Scale Analysis and Objective

The Marital Happiness Scale (MHS-9) was developed by Azrin, Naster, and Jones in 1973 and was later adapted by Heintz in 1995. The purpose of the scale is to examine the degree of satisfaction a spouse derives from their partner’s behavior in various areas of marital interaction.

Question Scoring

The Marital Happiness Scale consists of 9 items, each referring to a specific domain of spousal interaction within marriage. These domains include:
Child-rearing
Household responsibilities
Social activities
Communication
Finances
Sexual relations
Career progress
Independence
Participants are asked to rate each item based on how satisfied they feel with their spouse in each area, using a Likert-type scale from 1 (Very Dissatisfied) to 10 (Very Satisfied).

Statistical Analysis

For overall scoring, the original 10-point scale is converted into a 5-point scale as follows:
1–2 = Not at all satisfied
3–4 = Slightly satisfied
5–6 = Moderately satisfied
7–8 = Quite satisfied
9–10 = Very satisfied
The final score is calculated as the average of the scores across the 9 items, and it corresponds to one of the five levels of satisfaction on the adapted 5-point scale.

Validity and Reliability

The scale was translated and adapted for the Greek population by Heintz, who found that it demonstrates good construct validity. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is 0.87, indicating high reliability of the tool for measuring marital satisfaction.

References

Authors: Azrin N. H., Naster B. J., and Jones R.
Greek adaptation: Heintz E.
Azrin, N. H., Naster, B. J., & Jones, R. (1973). Reciprocity counseling: A rapid learning-based procedure for marital counseling. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 11(4), 365–382.