Construction and Validation of Emotional Divorce Scale in Iranian Population

Objective: Divorce is one of the social problems and underlying factors of many psychological problems, thereby demanding necessary research to prevent its occurrence. This study aimed to construct and validate Emotional Divorce Scale in Iranian couples.  Methods: This was a cross-sectional research. A total number of 400 married individuals living in east part of Tehran City, Iran between May and June 2016 were selected by random cluster sampling method and responded to the research instruments (researcher-made Emotional Divorce Scale, Dr. Phil Relationship Health Profile Test, and Enrich Marital Satisfaction Scale). Data analyses were performed by factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Cronbach alpha coefficient in SPSS V. 22 and LISREL V. 8.80.  Results: The results of factor analysis showed that Emotional Divorce Scale comprised three factors. The three-factor structure of the scale was confirmed by goodness-of-fit indices.The results of Pearson correlation indicated that the total score of Emotional Divorce Scale was significantly correlated with relationship health profile test (0.69) and Enrich Marital Satisfaction Scale (-0.42) at significance level of 0.01. The internal consistency of the total scale was 0.97 and the internal consistency of the three factors, namely compulsory living, absence of romantic behavior towards spouse, and emotional vacuum were 0.97, 0.73, and 0.93, respectively.  Conclusion: Finally, the Emotional Divorce Scale enjoys acceptable psychometric properties regarding the ease of administration, scoring, and interpretation, as well as suitable validity and reliability of the questionnaire. Thus, researchers can safely use it in their studies.