Some psychosocial aspects of nonlethal chondrodysplasias: IV. Dyadic scale of marital adjustment

This article examines marital adjustment of couples who have had a child with dwarfism due to a skeletal dysplasia, and of couples where one or both members are dwarfs. The instrument used was the Dyadic Adjustment Scale developed by Spanier [1976: Marriage Family 38:15–38]. The reasons for examining this psychosocial aspect of dwarfism were that the birth of a dwarfed child to average-size parents might be expected to cause stress in the relationship, and because several authors had raised concerns about the nature and/or quality of marriages involving dwarfs. This study provides evidence of a decrease in the level of marital adjustment for the average-size parents of affected children, gives tentative reassurance about marriages where both individuals are dwarfs, but raises some concerns about couples where only one member is a dwarf. Am. J. Med. Genet. 78:17–21, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.