Dyadic Adjustment Scale – 4

What it measures

An ultra-brief version of Spanier's (1976) Dyadic Adjustment Scale, capturing overall relationship quality in just 4 items covering agreement, cohesion, satisfaction, and affective expression. Used when minimal respondent burden is essential. Widely used in clinical screening and large epidemiological studies.

Response format

Mixed response formats (6-point agreement, binary, frequency); total 0–21

Representative items

• Please indicate the approximate extent of agreement or disagreement on handling family finances.
• How often do you and your partner work together on a project?
• Do you ever regret that you married or lived together?
• In general, how often do you think that things between you and your partner are going well?

Usage notes & scoring

Freely available for research. Total score <=12 suggests significant relationship distress. The full DAS-32 (Spanier, 1976) and RDAS-14 (Busby et al., 1995) provide more detailed relationship profiling when needed.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Sabourin, S., Valois, P., & Lussier, Y. (2005). Development and validation of a brief version of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale with a nonparametric item analysis model. Psychological Assessment, 17(1), 15–27.

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