[en] Multiple-collision relaxed (helium) chemiluminescence and laser-induced fluorescent spectroscopy have been used to demonstrate the highly efficient collisional stabilization of electronically excited Group IIA dihalide collision complexes formed in M (Ca,Sr)+X₂ (XY) (Cl₂, Br₂, ICl, IBr, I₂) reactive encounters. The first discrete emission spectra for the CaCl₂, CaBr₂, SrCl₂, SrBr₂, and SrICl dihalides are observed and evaluated; however, the low-pressure 'continuous' chemiluminescent emission observed for forming barium dihalide (BaX₂) complexes is quenched under these experimental conditions. The reactions of the Group IIA metals with molecular fluorine do not readily produce the corresponding dihalide. While the lowest-lying observed dihalide visible transition is, as predicted, found to result in an extended progression in a dihalide complex bending mode (SrCl₂), the observed progression suggests the presence of a residual halogen (Cl-Cl) bond. Two higher-lying transitions are dominated by a vibrational mode structure corresponding to progressions in the symmetric stretching mode or, for nominally forbidden electronic transitions, odd quanta of the asymmetric stretching mode. Some evidence for sequence structure associated with the dihalide bending mode is also obtained. These observations are consistent with complex formation as it is coupled with a modified valence electron structure (correlation diagram) associated with the highly ionic nature of the dihalides. The bonding in the Group IIA dihalides (and their complexes), whose atomization energies are more than twice the metal monohalide bond energy, strongly influences the evaluation of energetics and the determination of monohalide bond energies from chemiluminescent processes. Discrepancies between those bond strengths determined by mass spectrometry and chemiluminescence are discussed with a focus on energy partitioning in dihalide complex formation and its influence on chemical vapor deposition. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)