Assessment of General Family Functioning: Psychometric Evaluation of the German Version of the Brief Assessment of Family Functioning Scale

Abstract

The functionality of the family system is not only a central theme in developmental psychology and family research, but also plays a key role in many physical illnesses and mental disorders. Despite its high relevance, there are only a very few brief and user-friendly self-report measures assessing general family functioning. This gap is closed by the Brief Assessment of Family Functioning Scale (BAFFS), which consists of three items of the General Functioning Scale of the internationally well-established Family Assessment Device. In this study, the German version (KSAFF) of the BAFFS was psychometrically evaluated for the first time in a large and representative general population sample (n=2463). Using multigroup confirmatory factor analyses, strong measurement invariance was shown for relevant subsamples (women vs. men; participants in partnerships with vs. without children) with good model fit. Although one of the three items, which is the only negatively formulated item, yielded insufficient psychometric item characteristics, the internal consistency was Cronbach's α=0.71. As an indication of adequate construct validity, associations of family functioning with socioeconomic status as well as with current depression and anxiety were found in accordance with the hypothesis. Although application experiences and psychometric analyses of the German version of the BAFFS in relevant clinical samples are pending, this three-item self-report measure can be recommended as an economic, user-friendly assessment device for general family functioning, particularly since it yielded satisfactory to good psychometric properties in the general population.