Development and validation of a tolerance scale in spouses’ relations

Abstract: Tolerance has an influential role in peace making and adjustment in marital life and helps couples to have a stable marital life. According to the Islamic teachings, tolerance is the best way of dealing with couples’ differences in their relationships. The current research aims to develop and validate a scale to measure tolerance in spouses’ relations based on the Islamic approach. The items of the scale were prepared using religious texts (Quranic verses, Sayings, and Religious Interpretatorschr('39') Comments) and the validity of the scale was verified by a number of religious experts and family psychologists. Development and evaluation of psychometric properties of the scale were performed in five studies. In the first study, the reliability of the initial scale was calculated using the Cronbachchr('39')s alpha as .93 in a sample of 80 married men and women. In the second study, using a sample of 540 married men and women, 4 factors (acceptance and empathy toward to spouse,  emotional control and patience, facilitating the process of spousechr('39')s growth and actuation toward spouse, and beneficence and forgiveness toward spouse) and 20 items were discovered using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). In the second study, the reliability coefficients of each factor were calculated using Cronbachchr('39')s alpha coefficient and all of them were indicative of the proper internal consistency of the scale. In the third study, using a sample of 100 married women couples, the concurrent validity of the scale was confirmed, and in the fourth study, using a 30-member sample, the reliability of the scale was confirmed using re-test method. In the fifth study, using a sample of 369 married men and women, the four-factor scale of the scale was confirmed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). According to the results, the Tolerance in Spouses’ Relations Scale (TSRS) can be used as a valid tool for measuring tolerance in spouses’ relations.