Criterion-Related Validity of the Couple Flourishing Measure in a Spanish Population: Distinguishing Outpatients From Community Participants

Abstract

Relational (or couple) well-being has begun to be conceived from an integrative perspective that transcends mere satisfaction or stability in couples and may include dimensions such as emotional connection, joint growth, and shared purpose. This study evaluated the criterion-related validity of the Couple Flourishing Measure (CFM) in comparison with the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) in a Spanish sample of people in affective-sexual relationships (n = 118; Mage = 40.3, SD = 8.77). Differences between participants receiving affective-sexual therapy services (n = 67) and community participants (n = 51) were analyzed, as well as their discriminative ability using ROC curves. The results showed that the CFM had a greater ability to discriminate between the two groups (AUC = 0.81, 95% CI [0.74, 0.89]) than the DAS (AUC = 0.71, 95% CI [0.62, 0.81]). In turn, a preliminary cutoff score for CFM was identified (61.5), with moderate sensitivity (0.64) and high specificity (0.94). These findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the criterion-related validity of the CFM for distinguishing outpatients receiving affective-sexual therapy from community participants without previous therapeutic experience and suggest that the measure may offer complementary information beyond traditional indicators of relationship adjustment. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.