The Chinese Marital Quality Inventory: Development, Reliability and Validity

This study aims to develop the Chinese Marital Quality Inventory (CMQI) and to examine its psychometric properties including reliability and validity. This self-reported instrument was developed based on the conceptual framework of previous overseas work as well as similar instruments developed in China. The psychometric properties of the 90 item instrument were examined with an initial sample of 1303 participants for its construct validity and factorial structure, internal consistency, and split-half reliability. Test-retest reliability was examined using a separate sample of 52 subjects and convergent validity was also investigated using Olson’s Family Inventory (OFI), the SCL-90, and the MMPI with another sample of 95 subjects. Results on Exploratory Factor Analysis suggested that a model of a 10-factor structure fitted well with the data with intercorrelations among factors ranging from 0.502 to 0.745. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for these factors, ranging from 0.462 to 0.645, also suggested satisfactory internal consistency. Split-half correlations also indicated reasonably high splithalf reliability with coefficients between 0.477 and 0.698. Results on test-retest reliability checks yielded good concordance between times with correlations ranging from 0.726 to 0.879. Correlations between CMQI and the OFI provided evidence for satisfactory convergent validity to the instrument with coefficients ranging from 0.124 to 0.799. The total score of the CMQI was significantly correlated with SCL-90 and MMPI. The marital quality of the separated and divorced participants was significantly lower than those who were still married. The CMQI is a validated instrument suitable for assessing the marital quality of adults of an Asian background.