Toward a Culturally Robust Measure to Assess Marital Relationships

Abstract

Despite the increased use of measures developed in the United States in countries with different cultural value orientations, researchers often do not examine whether scales show invariance across cultures. The goal of this study was to discuss the importance of measurement invariance when conducting research with cultural groups that differ from U.S. populations. As an illustration of this issue, the Marital Comparison Level Index (MCLI; Sabatelli, 1984 ) was revised in a culturally relevant way to be used to study Korean couples and the measurement properties of the scale was explored in samples drawn from the United States and Korea ( N = 676). Results showed that there was a second-order factor, which is marital complaints, that underlies the five first-order factors (i.e., emotional intimacy, sexual intimacy, marital conflicts, intergenerational relationships, and complaints about partner’s lifestyle). The identified second-order factor structure showed an adequate level of measurement invariance, indicating the potential for using the measure to examine marital issues within and between couples from these two countries. Taken together, the present study serves as an impetus for international scholarship that could promote cultural and racial diversity in relationship research.

Effect of social cohesion on crime control strategies among rural dwellers in Nigeria

“…Our aim was to examine how the social cohesion variables were associated with effective crime control strategies in rural areas in Nigeria. These investigations are premised on the theory of communal relationship (Clark et al, 2017; Lee, 2021) and formal social cohesion variables (Owen et al, 2015). Both variables were fused to provide an analytical frame to explain the effect of social cohesion on crime control strategies in the rural areas.…”

“…Drawing from previous studies (Griffths, 2019; Lee, 2021; Ogbonna, 2016) that has established that the ineffectiveness of Nigeria's criminal justice system in the rural areas has weakened crime control in many facets. Karimu (2014) argued that there is no strong will or genuine intention by any government to effectively engage crime control strategies in the rural areas in Nigeria.…”

Exchange and Communal Strengths’ Associations With Relational Characteristics and Forgiveness

“…Another limitation is the largely heterogeneous heterosexual white, relatively well-educated sample impedes the ability to offer generalizations. Indeed, researchers have questioned whether established relational measures commonly used in the United States should be reassessed to allow for a wider variance in cultural norms and values (Lee, 2021).…”