Comparison of Two Scales for Measuring the Cost or Value of Family Living

Abstract

Zimmerman's adult male equivalent scale and Kirkpatrick's cost-consumption unit scale are here used for measuring the cost or value of family living and the results compared. Using 104 families in Crozet, Virginia, the writers found a correlation of .93. With 33 extreme cases eliminated, the correlation was .90. When measures obtained by each scale were correlated with a third variable, contradictory results appeared. The correlation between total expenditures per family and expenditures per adult male equivalent was .57; between total expenditures per family and the sum of expenditures per cost-consumption unit .88. Similar contradictory results were obtained in correlations based on 131 Wisconsin farm familes. With the latter, a further test was made. The correlations between gross cash income per family and expenditures per adult male equivalent, sum of expenditures por cost-consumption unit, and total expenditures per family, respectively were .44, .67, and .59.