This paper presents results about the development of a new psychological measure for quality assessment in romantic relationships. The Scale for Quality Assessment in Romantic Relationships (Aquarela-R) follows the parameters of a semantic differential (SD) and it is proposed to directly assess five cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions of romantic relationships: (a) commitment, (b) intimacy, (c) love, (d) sexual relationship, and (e) communication. Two studies comprised the research: the first was a study of the semantics of descriptors, and the second one was about development of the measure. Three hundred eighty eight people participated in this survey, 211 (54.4%) were males and the average age of the participants was 28.2 years old (SD = 9.1 years). The final measure showed consistent results in terms of its factorial and external validity as well as Cronbach's alpha indices of reliability higher than .90 in all factors.
Romantic relationships; semantic differential; psychological measure