How do Runaway Adolescents and their Parents Perceive the Family? Measurement Invariance in the Family Functioning Scale

Abstract

Abstract Exploring perceptual discrepancies and how they affect family life may be particularly relevant when household dynamics have broken down to the point that a child runs away or is forced to leave the home. This study explored the sources of differences between parents’ and youths’ reports of family functioning and, more generally, illustrates how to perform confirmatory factor analysis methods to purge error due to measurement invariance. Basic concepts and methods that are often needed in social work research are described. Creating uni-dimensional and configurable invariant subscales resulted in improved significance for the Conflict subscale over traditional methods. All other subscales remained significantly different between parents and youths at all levels of invariance. Findings highlight the caution required in using any scale to measure the same construct for two different populations, such as parents and children.