The existing research on the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) indicated that there were problems with some of the subscales and individual items. This study was designed to improve the instrument by following the standards of construct hierarchy. Through previous research and the analyses in this study, the subscales were found to contain some items that were homogeneous and others that were more heterogeneous. This problem was corrected by selecting out items that were homogeneous; 7 first‐order scales were created which were combined to creat the 3 second‐order concepts of consensus, satisfaction, and cohesion. With a sample of distressed and nondistressed couples, a series of confirmatory factor analyses was conducted. The factor analyses provided evidence for the construct validity of the new structure of the Revised DAS (RDAS) with the distressed, nondistressed, and total samples of this study, as well as with the sample from Spanier and Thompson's (1982) study. Additional analyses correlating the RDAS with another popular marital instrument provided more evidence for the construct validity of the RDAS. Criterion validity was demonstrated by discriminant analyses results. Both internal consistency and split‐half reliability estimates demonstrated that the RDAS was reliable. The result also supported dividing the RDAS into two alternative forms for use in pre‐ and posttest studies. Summary statistics for the RDAS are presented as are implications for the field of marriage and family therapy.

Associations among three dimensions of parenting (support, behavioral control, psychological control) and measures of adolescent depression, delinquency, and academic achievement were assessed in a sample of African American youth. All data were adolescent self-reports by way of school-administered questionnaires in random samples of classrooms in southeastern U.S. metropolitan areas. Path analysis revealed several associations between parenting dimensions and youth outcomes, including negative relationships between paternal support and depression and between parental behavioral control and delinquency. Group comparisons (by youth grade level, gender, and family socioeconomic status [SES]) were also conducted, and no age or SES differences were noted.

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