Relationship Satisfaction Test: See How Your Relationship Compares to Research Norms
The Relationship Satisfaction Test explores how you feel about your current relationship using an adapted CSI-16. Get an instant self-assessment score and an optional report to discuss with a therapist.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Relationship Satisfaction Test is a free, confidential 16-question self-assessment, based on the validated CSI-16. It takes about 9 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 3 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
One precise score, three views of your relationship
Relationship satisfaction is your own appraisal of how happy, connected, and fulfilled you feel with your partner. This self-assessment adapts the Couples Satisfaction Index to explore that experience. Your total and category breakdown organize your responses; they cannot determine whether the relationship is safe or whether you should stay.
Overall satisfaction
An adaptation of the Couples Satisfaction Index that summarizes your reported satisfaction. Higher scores mean more satisfaction on these questions. The altered response format means its score bands should be treated as educational guidance rather than validated clinical thresholds.
Warmth, teamwork, and needs
How strong and comfortable the relationship feels day to day, whether you feel like a team, and how well the relationship meets your needs and original hopes. These are the workhorse ingredients of satisfaction.
Your gut feel
Six quick first-impression judgments, such as whether the relationship feels full or empty, sturdy or fragile, hopeful or discouraging. Research finds these immediate reads carry real signal.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Validated instrument (CSI-16) | Rarely | Yes, faithful items |
| Published distress cutoff | No | Yes, and we show it |
| Breakdown of where the score comes from | No | Happiness / warmth / needs / gut feel |
| Evidence-based next steps | Generic tips | Gottman & EFT research |
| Clinician-reviewed interpretation | Rarely | Yes, reviewed |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Confidential (no data sent) | Often tracked | Runs in your browser |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–80 in total. Your result falls into one of 3 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–50 | Signs of real relationship distress | Your score falls below the research cutoff for relationship distress (51 on this version, scaled from the published 51.5 out of 81). That is worth taking seriously, and it is also one of the most treatable situations in the couples literature. |
| 51–65 | Mixed, with room to grow | Your score sits above the distress cutoff but below the clearly satisfied range. Plenty is working, and some things likely feel flat, strained, or unspoken. |
| 66–80 | A satisfied, connected relationship | You rated nearly every item as more than mostly true. Your answers describe a relationship that feels strong, rewarding, and worth choosing. |
Should You and Your Partner Both Take This Test?
The Relationship Satisfaction Test reflects your own experience of your current partnership. Yes, if you can do it separately and then compare, rather than answering side by side. The CSI-16 measures your own perception of the relationship, and two honest, independent scores tell you more than one shared answer shaped by whoever spoke first. It is common for partners to land in different bands: one person can be in the mixed range while the other feels closer to distress, and that gap is itself useful information rather than a problem to argue away.
If your numbers differ, resist the urge to debate whose score is more correct. Use the category breakdown to find where the gap is widest, whether that is warmth, needs, or the gut-feel items, and talk through that specific area first. The Relationship Check-In tool gives you a structured way to compare notes on a regular basis instead of only after a test like this one.
Sharing is optional. Agree that either person may keep their answers private and that a score will not be used as proof against the other. If you fear punishment, monitoring, threats, or retaliation, seek confidential individual support before proposing a joint exercise or showing your result.
What Else Can Move Your Score Besides the Relationship Itself
Satisfaction scores are sensitive to more than what happens between you and your partner. Poor sleep, financial pressure, a demanding stretch at work, new parenthood, and individual anxiety or low mood all lower how warm and rewarding a relationship feels, even when the relationship itself has not changed. If your score feels lower than you expected, it is worth asking honestly whether the strain is coming from the relationship or from everything else pressing on both of you right now. Our Stress Level Test can help you separate the two.
This cuts the other way too. A demanding season can mask real satisfaction, and a score taken during a calm, well-rested stretch can look better than the underlying relationship truly is. Retaking this test after a few weeks, ideally outside an unusually stressful or unusually easy period, gives a more reliable read than any single score.
A repeat score also depends on how you understand the questions and the circumstances in which you answer. A change alone cannot prove that the relationship improved or deteriorated. Note what felt different and discuss concrete experiences rather than treating movement between bands as a clinical finding.
How This Differs from an Attachment Style or Trust Issues Test
The CSI-16 is a snapshot of how satisfied you feel with your current relationship right now. It does not explain why you feel that way. Our Attachment Style Test looks at the relational patterns you learned early in life and tend to repeat, which can shape satisfaction without being specific to this partner. Our Trust Issues Test looks specifically at suspicion, guardedness, and difficulty relying on a partner, which can pull a satisfaction score down even in an otherwise healthy relationship.
Taken together, the three tests answer different questions: how satisfied am I right now, what patterns do I bring into relationships generally, and how much do I struggle to trust. If a low satisfaction score surprises you, one of the other two often explains the piece the CSI-16 cannot see on its own. For a deeper conversation about any of this, the Psychology.com therapist directory can help you find someone who works with couples and individuals on exactly these patterns.
The tests hub brings these related self-assessments together. Choose the question you most want to understand instead of treating multiple results as confirmation of a diagnosis. None of these questionnaires can establish what your partner thinks or explain a relationship without your wider context.
Is Relationship Satisfaction the Same as Relationship Safety?
Feeling close to someone does not rule out intimidation, coercion, or harm. Satisfaction questions do not assess whether you can disagree freely, set boundaries, or ask for help without retaliation. A reassuring score should never outweigh a concern about your safety.
If you feel afraid, consider speaking privately with a qualified professional who understands partner violence. Ask about confidentiality and safe ways to contact you. Joint conversations and couples work require attention to safety; you do not need to share a test result to deserve support.
Methodology & sources
This test adapts the 16 items of the Couples Satisfaction Index (Funk & Rogge, 2007), a measure the authors make freely available and that was built by testing items from eight established relationship scales with item response theory, keeping the most informative ones. One honest adaptation: the original CSI-16 mixes several response formats (a 0 to 6 happiness ladder, frequency options, and adjective pairs). Our engine presents every item on the same 0 to 5 scale from Not at all true to Completely true, with the frequency and adjective items reworded as statements that keep their meaning. That makes the maximum score 80 instead of the original 81, so we scaled the published distress cutoff of 51.5 out of 81 proportionally to 51 out of 80. Scores of 50 and below fall in the distress range; we also flag 66 and above, the point where you are averaging better than mostly true across every item, as a clearly satisfied range.
This test is provided for education and self-reflection, not diagnosis or relationship advice. Satisfaction scores are a snapshot: they move with stress, seasons of life, and what happened this week. A low score describes strain, not a verdict on your partner or your future, and relationship distress is one of the most treatable problems in the mental-health literature.
Proportionally rescaling a published cutoff does not validate a new response format. The original study supports the original CSI, and its accuracy estimates cannot be assumed to hold for this adaptation. The displayed bands and category groups are educational interpretations, not independently validated thresholds or subscales. In particular, a score cannot determine whether each individual answer was favorable.
References
- Funk JL, Rogge RD. Testing the ruler with item response theory: increasing precision of measurement for relationship satisfaction with the Couples Satisfaction Index. J Fam Psychol. 2007;21(4):572-583. doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.21.4.572
- Gottman JM, Levenson RW. The timing of divorce: predicting when a couple will divorce over a 14-year period. J Marriage Fam. 2000;62(3):737-745. doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00737.x
- Johnson SM, Hunsley J, Greenberg L, Schindler D. Emotionally focused couples therapy: status and challenges. Clin Psychol Sci Pract. 1999;6(1):67-79. doi.org/10.1093/clipsy.6.1.67
- Wiebe SA, Johnson SM. A review of the research in emotionally focused therapy for couples. Fam Process. 2016;55(3):390-407. doi.org/10.1111/famp.12229
- Funk JL, Rogge RD. Original Couples Satisfaction Index validation paper, author-hosted full text. couples-research.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FunkRogge2007.pdf
- American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Domestic Violence Education and Telehealth Considerations. networks.aamft.org/telehealth/events/event-description?CalendarEventKey=9ebdbc0c-2dbd-4133-ad4e-84b9b355113e&CommunityKey=d48418e3-a0d0-440f-a7da-318a79e4811a
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 16). Relationship Satisfaction Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/relationship-satisfaction
Relationship Satisfaction Test FAQ
What is a good relationship satisfaction score?
A higher score on this adaptation suggests greater self-reported relationship satisfaction. There is no score that proves a relationship is healthy or safe. This page changes the original CSI response format and rescales its cutoff, so the displayed bands are educational guides rather than validated thresholds. Consider which experiences shaped your answers, whether concerns persist, and whether you can talk openly and safely with your partner.
Does a low score mean we should break up?
No. A low score means the relationship is under strain right now, and strain responds to attention. Satisfaction is not fixed: it moves with stress, life stages, and how conflict gets handled, and couples therapy research shows that most distressed couples who get evidence-based help improve meaningfully. What a low score is really telling you is that this deserves care, not that the story is over.
How accurate is this test?
The original CSI-16 was developed and tested by Funk and Rogge as a measure of relationship satisfaction. This page adapts its wording and response format, so the original validation findings cannot establish the accuracy of this version. Rescaling a cutoff does not solve that limitation. Use the result to identify concerns and prepare for a conversation, rather than to classify your relationship clinically.
When should we consider couples therapy?
You do not need to wait for a crisis. Reasonable signals include a score in the distress range, the same fight repeating without repair, contempt or stonewalling creeping in, or one of you quietly withdrawing. Evidence-based approaches like emotionally focused therapy (EFT) and the Gottman method have strong outcome research, and couples who come in earlier tend to have more goodwill left to work with.
Is this test confidential?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser. Your individual answers are scored in your browser and are never sent to us or linked to you. They stay in this tab so you can return to your result, and closing or clearing the tab clears them. If you ask us to email the PDF, we receive your summary scores with your email address, never your individual answers. No account is needed.
How many questions does the relationship satisfaction test have?
The relationship satisfaction test has 16 statements adapted from the CSI-16. They ask about happiness, connection, needs, and your overall impression of the relationship. This page uses a uniform agreement format, unlike the varied response formats of the original instrument. Answer about your own experience with your current partner, and take the time you need rather than trying to produce a particular result.
Related tests
Love Language Test
Based on Gary Chapman's five love languages. See how you give and receive love.
Should We Break Up Quiz
Consider trust, respect, repair, shared direction, and safety without a stay-or-leave verdict.
Am I in Love? Quiz
Explore whether it is deep love, infatuation, companionship, or still figuring it out.
Healthy Relationship Quiz
Scores trust, communication and repair, independence, and affection. A positive read, not a verdict on your…
Compatibility Test
Explore relationship fit across communication, conflict, values, intimacy, finances, and expectations.