The Us as a Couple Questionnaire (US): A unidimensional measure of couple satisfaction

Abstract

This chapter describes the psychometric evaluation of the Us as a Couple Questionnaire (US) for assessing relationships. Two groups of participants completed the US: 112 Dutch community couples and 50 Dutch couples, of which one of the partners had a substance-related disorder. A Rasch analysis (Robin et al., Applied Psychological Measurement, 23(1), 90-94, 1999) revealed that 17 of the 20 items were found to fit the model, confirming its unidimensionality. This shorter version (the US-2) has sufficient internal consistency and good convergent and divergent validity. There was also a significant difference between the addicted couples and community couples, which supports its construct validity. The unidimensionality of the US-2 is an advantage over existing instruments as an evaluation instrument since its self-report nature makes it straightforward and inexpensive to administer in research and therapy settings.