Scale Analysis

The Discord Questionnaire (DQ) was developed by Beier and Sternberg to assess the quality and satisfaction between partners.

Purpose of the Scale

The Discord Questionnaire is a 10-item tool designed to evaluate two aspects of marital relationships: disagreement and conflict, as well as the level of distress associated with that disagreement. Indicative subscales of the questionnaire include Communication, Child Rearing, Financial Management, Sexual Relationship, Conflict Management, Shared Activities and Interests, Emotional Support, and Decision Making.

Item Scoring

Participants were asked to rate the 10 items individually based on the degree of agreement they had with their partner over the past month, on a scale from 1 to 7.

Statistical Analysis

The overall score of the scale is the sum of the scores from all items, resulting in a range from 10 to 70. Higher scores indicate greater disagreement and higher levels of distress.

Validity and Reliability

The Discord Questionnaire has been shown to be a valid and reliable tool for measuring agreement and disagreement between partners. It covers a broad spectrum of topics that are critical to relationship quality. The DQ subscales exhibit high Cronbach’s alpha values, usually above 0.80, indicating strong internal consistency. The results also show high correlation between administrations, suggesting that the questionnaire is stable over time.

References

Beier, E.G. and Sternberg, D.P. (1977). Marital communication. Journal of Communication, 27(3), 92–97.