Examination of the Psychometric Properties of the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships with Individuals in Same-Sex Couple Relationships

As a concept, romantic intimacy may be examined through Schaefer and Olson's (1981) measure, the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships (PAIR), which identified five dimensions of intimacy: emotional, intellectual, recreational, sexual, and social intimacy. Moore, McCabe, and Stockdale's (1998) attempt to replicate this five-factor model was not successful, and they instead proposed a three-factor model of intimacy: engagement, communication, and shared friendships. The objective of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the PAIR with individuals involved in same-sex couple relationships using these two models. Three hundred fifty participants completed the PAIR, the Experiences in Close Relationships, and the brief 4-item version of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Confirmatory factor analyses were not able to replicate both the original five-factor structure and the proposed three-factor structure of the PAIR. Rather, results supported the factor structure, reliability, and concurrent validity of our revised version of Moore et al.'s (1998) three-factor model of intimacy, which retained the three dimensions after various modifications (i.e., addition of covariance terms, deletion of an item, and transference of items) were made. Links were found between these three dimensions of intimacy and insecure romantic attachment, as well as relationship happiness.