"How happy are you in your relationship?" is a simple question with a messy answer. The Couples Satisfaction Index was built to ask it as precisely as possible.
This guide explains how the CSI was made, how our relationship satisfaction test scores it, and how to read the result without over-reading it.
The Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI) measures overall satisfaction with a romantic relationship. Funk and Rogge built it in 2007 with item response theory, keeping the most precise items from established measures such as the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. This test uses the 16-item version: one score from 0 to 81, where scores below 51.5 suggest notable relationship dissatisfaction.
How the CSI was built
In 2007 Funk and Rogge pooled the items of the established satisfaction measures — including the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Marital Adjustment Test — and used item response theory to keep the ones that measured satisfaction most precisely. The result comes in 32-, 16-, 8-, and 4-item versions; we use the 16-item one.
It measures one thing: overall satisfaction with the relationship. The different question formats — a happiness rating, true-or-not statements, and adjective pairs such as sturdy or fragile — are different ways of asking, scored as one total.
What the score means
Answers are summed to a score from 0 to 81. The authors give one line: scores below 51.5 suggest notable relationship dissatisfaction. They give no other bands, so neither do we. A total a few answers from the line — 49 to 54 — is reported as close to it rather than on one side.
What one person's score cannot see
Your score is your view of the relationship on the day you answered. It does not include your partner's view, it does not say why you feel the way you do, and it does not ask about safety. If you are afraid of your partner, or controlled in who you see or how you spend money, that is not a satisfaction problem — contact a local domestic-abuse helpline.
If your score is low
A low score is a reason to talk, not a verdict. Low scores come from very different places — a hard season, one unresolved conflict, a slow drift — and only the two of you can tell which. If it stays below the line, couples therapy or a structured relationship-education programme is a common and sensible step. For the patterns underneath, the attachment styles guide is a useful companion.