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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy pp 1–3Cite as

Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test

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Name and Type of Measure

The Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test (MAT; Locke and Wallace 1959) is a measure of general marital quality or satisfaction, as well as a measure of agreement or disagreement on common issues that cause conflict for couples.

Synonyms

Locke-Wallace*; Short Marital Adjustment Test*

Introduction

The Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test (Locke and Wallace 1959) is one of the two most prevalently used measures of marital satisfaction (with 3322 citations as of January 2017), and is freely available for research and therapeutic practice. The Locke-Wallace* is a short (15-item) self-report measure of marital satisfaction and areas of disagreement. The measure utilizes a complex scoring system with ten item weightings. Higher scores reflect better marital satisfaction and more agreement between spouses. Scores on the Locke-Wallace* range from 2 to 158, with a cut-off score of 100. Scores less than 100 indicate marital dissatisfaction or maladjustment. The measure...

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References

  • Arias, I., & O’Leary, K. D. (1985). Semantic and perceptual discrepancies in discordant and nondiscordant marriages. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 9, 51–60.

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  • Cross, D. G., & Sharpley, C. F. (1981). The Locke-Wallace marital adjustment test reconsidered: Some psychometric findings as regards its reliability and factorial validity. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 41, 1303–1306.

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  • Freeston, M. H., & Plechaty, M. (1997). Reconsideration of the Locke-Wallace marital adjustment test: Is it still relevant for the 1990s? Psychological Reports, 81, 419–434.

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  • Locke, H. J., & Wallace, K. M. (1959). Short marital-adjustment and prediction tests: Their reliability and validity. Marriage and Family Living, 21(3), 251–255.

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  • Margolin, G., & Weiss, R. L. (1978). Comparative evaluation of therapeutic components associated with behavioral marital treatments. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 1476–1486.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Brandi C. Fink

  2. San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Alyson F. Shapiro

Authors
  1. Brandi C. Fink
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  2. Alyson F. Shapiro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brandi C. Fink .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Jay Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Anthony Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Council for Relationships, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Heather Pederson

  2. Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL, USA

    Diana Semmelhack

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© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

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Fink, B.C., Shapiro, A.F. (2018). Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_405-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_405-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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