Describe daily experience without letting relationship length answer for you.
Read six satisfaction statements about companionship, activities and how needs are treated. Includes reverse scoring, a busy-period counterexample and a small discussable change.
The mean describes your scored self-reports across these six statements only. It requires six valid ratings and gives no population rank, satisfaction percentage or assigned band.
Start with specific experiences from the past month
- Satisfaction here concerns your recent experience of this partnership: whether companionship suits your current needs, ordinary shared activities feel worthwhile, and your needs are taken seriously too. It is not the number of years together, apparent closeness in photographs or other people’s evaluation. Try to recall concrete interactions rather than answering only from the sweetest or most difficult memory.
- One relationship can feel rewarding in some respects and disappointing in others. This mean compresses six answers into one descriptive number; it cannot establish overall relationship health or the quality of a partner’s character. This is an original self-reflection edition rather than a standard relationship-satisfaction instrument.
Scoring and insufficient information
- The six statements use 1–5 ratings of current fit. The second and fifth describe distance or dissatisfaction and are scored as 6 minus the response. The other four retain their values. The sum ranges from 6 to 30, and the mean is that sum divided by six, displayed to one decimal place. It is not a score awarded by your partner or a conversion to a hundred-point scale.
- Selecting NA for any statement withholds the mean and retains the number rated. Even if all three other parts have means, they cannot fill in satisfaction. The complete explanation remains available so you can understand the questions; it does not become a personalised conclusion about this attempt when information is insufficient.
Higher or lower is not a relationship verdict
- A higher mean means greater endorsement of these recent satisfaction experiences. It can help identify arrangements worth continuing. An ordinary meal together, for example, may feel rewarding because both people have time to finish speaking and be heard, without requiring an expensive activity. Preserving that specific condition is more useful than trying to maintain a high score.
- A lower mean indicates that these experiences fit less well recently. It does not identify a cause. Unclear needs, unsuitable arrangements, recent conflict or other conditions may be involved. Clarify what feels unsatisfactory before jumping from a mean to a claim about what kind of person your partner is. Middle responses can also conceal very different experiences.
Worked example: the same mean can hide different experiences
- In a fictional attempt, Qin answers 2, 4, 2, 3, 4 and 2 in this part’s order. Reversing the second and fifth yields 2, 2, 2, 3, 2 and 2: a sum of 13 and a displayed mean of 13 ÷ 6 = 2.2. A different scored pattern of 1, 1, 1, 4, 3 and 3 also totals 13. Equal numbers do not establish the same concerns or causes.
- Qin’s recent concern is that cancelled plans have not been rearranged. One possible sentence is: “Over the past three weeks, two changed plans were not replaced with time together. Could we discuss a time that works for both of us?” This is clearer than saying the other person caused a low score, and leaves room to understand their circumstances.
Counterexample: limited time together is not automatically dissatisfaction
- In a fictional example, An is finishing an intensive work period. The partners meet less often but feel satisfied with their recent agreements and contact. Another pair meet every day while one person repeatedly feels unheard. Hours together cannot answer these six statements for them, and the number of activities posted online is not a standard against which to calibrate ratings.
- Likewise, feelings immediately after an argument may overshadow other recent experiences, while one enjoyable event may obscure ongoing dissatisfaction. Make your time frame clear rather than forcing yourself to choose a supposedly objective midpoint. NA is available when you cannot judge.
Keep experience, intention, options and investment separate
- Satisfaction describes how recent relating has felt; intention concerns wanting to continue now. A theoretical relationship between them does not mean this edition can use one number to predict the other. You may want to continue while wishing an unsuitable arrangement would change, or value recent experiences while not wanting the partnership to remain in its present form.
- Outside options and shared investment do not cancel a specific unsatisfactory experience. Do not improve an answer because much has already been invested, or assume that being able to live independently means you should not feel satisfied. All four parts remain separate, without a relationship-destiny score.
Turn one experience into a discussable arrangement
- In your own notes, describe one interaction: what happened, what you needed, and which part was or was not met. Then write one change small enough for both people to discuss, such as explaining when to revisit arrangements after a cancellation. This is different from promising to make each other completely satisfied from now on. No note needs to be submitted.
- If you want a conversation, first check whether it is a suitable time and hear how your partner understood the same event. They need not accept your score or rate the experience identically. Trying an arrangement is a voluntary decision for both people. This exercise is not a relationship intervention and promises no improvement in scores or outcomes.
When might revisiting the reading help?
- You can reread the explanation when you can identify more clearly what feels rewarding or disappointing, without retaking the test. If you do answer again, check that the relationship, recall period and edition are comparable. Changed responses describe a different self-report; they do not prove that one conversation caused an improvement.
- This edition has no population norms, established validity or demonstrated Chinese–English equivalence. It does not diagnose relationship health, partner traits or psychological problems. Higher satisfaction is not evidence of safety, and lower satisfaction is not an automatic instruction to stay or leave. Practical problems outside this page’s scope need attention in their own right, rather than more questions in search of certainty.