Description

The Quality of Marriage Index (QMI-6) is a brief 6-item self-report scale developed by Norton in 1983 to assess individuals’ global perceptions of satisfaction with their marriage or intimate relationship.

Rather than focusing exclusively on specific behaviors or isolated aspects of a relationship, the QMI-6 provides an overall assessment of how positively individuals perceive and experience their relationship. It therefore offers a concise measure of global relationship quality and satisfaction.

Its brief format makes the QMI-6 particularly practical for research and clinical applications in which a rapid assessment of relationship satisfaction is required.

Objective

The primary objective of the QMI-6 is to measure overall satisfaction with a marriage or intimate relationship.

The index provides a global evaluation of relationship quality and can be used to examine relationship satisfaction in association with different attitudes, behaviors, communication patterns, and broader aspects of individuals’ lives.

According to the available source, marital quality has also been associated with health and well-being, happiness, economic factors, psychological difficulties, and broader dimensions of quality of life.

Structure

The QMI-6 consists of 6 positively worded items. Participants are asked to respond according to how they feel about their relationship and how satisfied they are with their partner.

The first 5 items assess agreement with positive statements concerning the quality of the relationship.

The sixth item provides an additional global evaluation of the relationship and is rated using a different response range.

This concise structure enables the QMI-6 to capture an overall evaluation of relationship quality without requiring an extensive assessment process.

Scoring

The first 5 items are rated on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from:

1 = Strongly Disagree to 7 = Strongly Agree.

The sixth item is rated on a 10-point scale, ranging from 1 to 10.

The scores of all six items are summed to produce a total score ranging from 6 to 45.

Higher scores indicate better perceived marital or relationship quality and greater overall relationship satisfaction.

Validity and Reliability

According to the available source, the QMI-6 has been adapted into Greek by Tsagarakis and Stalikas using an independent back-translation procedure.

The Greek adaptation demonstrated excellent internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha = 0.922.

The available material therefore describes the QMI-6 as a reliable and valid instrument for assessing overall marital satisfaction. Its brevity and ease of administration further support its use in both research and clinical settings.

Statistical Analysis and Data Use

The primary analysis of the QMI-6 is based on the total score obtained by summing the six items.

Descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations, and score distributions, can be used to summarize relationship quality within a study population.

Internal consistency can be examined using Cronbach’s alpha, while associations between QMI-6 scores and other psychological, social, behavioral, or demographic variables may also be investigated depending on the objectives of the study.

The total score may additionally be used for comparisons between groups or for examining changes in perceived relationship quality across different assessment periods.

Applications

The QMI-6 can be used in relationship and family research, as well as in clinical and counseling contexts requiring a brief assessment of overall relationship satisfaction.

It may be particularly useful for examining associations between relationship quality and factors such as communication, partner behaviors, psychological well-being, health, happiness, and broader quality of life.

Because it contains only six items and can be completed within a short period of time, the QMI-6 can also be readily incorporated into larger research protocols containing multiple psychological or relationship measures.

References

Norton R. Measuring marital quality: A critical look at the dependent variable. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 1983;45(1):141-151.