Development of a questionnaire to measure perceived reasons for divorce seeking: an instrument development study

BACKGROUND: Subjective accounts of divorce seeking individuals is a useful complement to sociological and psychological causes of divorce at both individual and community level. Regarding the increasing trend of divorce worldwide, the need for a questionnaire measuring subjective reasons of divorce is felt more and more. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to develop and validate perceived causes of a divorce questionnaire in Iranian society. METHODS: This was an instrument development study that carried out in 2016, based on extensive literature reviews and interviews with individuals referring to “Family Intervention Centers to Reduce Divorce” in Kerman, Fars and Alborz provinces (Iran). At first, 38 items expressing the perceived reasons for divorce were extracted; then, 29 items were used in the questionnaire according to the experts’ judgment. After that, the questionnaire was given to 570 participants. The structural validity was evaluated using two methods: exploratory factor analysis via principle axis factoring, and known group comparisons by paired-samples t-test. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was also examined by calculating the Cronbach’s alpha and corrected item-total correlation. SPSS version 20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean age (± SD) of women and men was 32.3 (±8.9) and 36.8 (±10.6), respectively. Based on an expert panel, content validity of 29 items was approved. Using principle axis factoring and varimax rotation, two components were extracted. These two factors were called “instrumental/external reasons” and “expressive and relationship-centered reasons.” Factor loading of all 29 items was higher than 0.32. Cronbach’s alpha of the two subscales was 0.84 and 0.85, respectively. Corrected item-scale coefficient of all items was more than 0.2. CONCLUSIONS: According to the acceptable validity and reliability of the Perceived Reasons for Divorce Seeking Questionnaire, it can be used to ascertain people’s reasons for divorce seeking.