Development of the Marital Self-disclosure Questionnaire (MSDQ)

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Relationship Science

Background:

• Effective marital communication is crucial for relationship satisfaction.
• Self-disclosure, the act of revealing personal information, is a key component of intimacy.
• Existing measures may not adequately capture the nuances of marital self-disclosure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Marital Self-Disclosure Questionnaire (MSDQ).
• To provide a brief, reliable, and valid self-report measure of marital self-disclosure.

Main Methods:

• Development of 40 true-false items for the MSDQ.
• Assessment of global marital self-disclosure and four specific facets: Relationship, Sex, Money, and Imbalance.
• Preliminary validation through distinguishing groups based on marital distress and self-disclosure levels.

Main Results:

• The MSDQ demonstrated reliable scale properties.
• Preliminary findings suggest the MSDQ can differentiate between groups with varying levels of marital distress and self-disclosure.
• The questionnaire provides both a global score and specific subscale scores.

Conclusions:

• The Marital Self-Disclosure Questionnaire (MSDQ) is a promising tool for assessing marital self-disclosure.
• The MSDQ shows potential for clinical and research utility in understanding couple dynamics.
• Further research is warranted to fully establish the MSDQ's validity and applications.