Self-report Measures Of Family Functioning Research Articles

Family relations and relationships with peers as determinants of self-esteem in adolescents

Objective - The aim of this study was to examine to what extent the quality of family relationships (attachment to mother, attachment to father, family cohesion) and relationships with peers (attachment to peers and social acceptance) predict global self-esteem of boys and girls in adolescence. Materials and methods - The sample included 221 high school students aged 14-18 years old. Attachments to parents and peers were assessed using the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. Family cohesion was measured with the Family Cohesion Scale of the Colorado Self-Report Measure of Family Functioning. Adolescent perceptions of global self-worth and social acceptance among peers were measured using the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents. Results - The results showed that girls are more attached to their peers than boys. Boys and girls did not differ in their attachment to mother and father, perception of family cohesion, self-conceptions of global self-worth and social acceptance. Stepwise regression analyses were conducted on the results for the boys’ and girls’ samples with adolescent global self-esteem as a criterion variable and measures of attachment to peers, social acceptance, family cohesion, attachment to mother and attachment to father as predictor variables. The results revealed that attachment to the same-sex parent and peer acceptance significantly contribute to boys’ and girls’ global self-esteem. Conclusion - The findings of this study point to the importance of approval from significant others (family and peer group) in different socialization contexts for fostering global self-esteem in adolescents.

Family functioning in depressed and non-clinical control families

Existing studies of depression and family functioning have used western samples to examine how depression and impaired family functioning are related, and to explore levels of discrepancy between depressed patients and their family members. The purpose of the current study is to explore these questions in a Chinese sample. This study examined the association between family functioning and depression in a Chinese sample of 60 depressed patients and their family members and 60 non-clinical controls and their family members. The study evaluated levels of agreement between family members on a self-report measure of family functioning (Family Assessment Device) using reliability statistics. It also compared families' self-reported family functioning to that of a trained observer using an observational rating scale (McMaster Clinical Rating Scale). s indicate poorer family functioning among Chinese families with a depressed family member, high to moderate agreement between patients and family members, moderate to low agreement between non-clinical participants and their family members, and moderate correlations between subjective and objective ratings of family functioning in a mainland Chinese sample. As in other cultures, depression is associated with impaired family functioning in Chinese families. There is good agreement between family members and a trained evaluator about the family impairments. The Family Assessment Device and the McMaster Clinical Rating Scale are useful for assessing family functioning in Chinese families.

Assessing Families in Palliative Care: A Pilot Study of the Checklist of Family Relational Abilities

Although families often play an integral role in palliative care, there are currently few measures to help clinicians gauge families' abilities to participate in this process. The Checklist of Family Relational Abilities was developed as an efficient, clinician-rated method of family assessment. Preliminary results suggest that Checklist ratings of overall family functioning and strength of family attachments were reliable across raters and associated with a well-validated self-report measure of family functioning. However, ratings of family communication and collaborative decision-making were less reliable. Based on these preliminary findings, we propose a revised version of the Checklist for further study in palliative care settings.

A Spanish version of the Family Assessment Device

This paper presents the results of a study on the psychometric properties of an authorized Spanish version of the McMaster Family Assessment Device, a self-report measure of family functioning. The study sample comprised 60 psychiatric patients and their family member and 60 controls, without mental health problems, and their family member. Compared to other studies, all subscales displayed adequate temporal stability and acceptable reliability. While the instrument discriminated well between the two groups of families on all subscales, the results nevertheless indicated limitations in the inter-item discriminant capacity of the "Roles" subscale. Factor analysis resulted in a three-factor model that does not coincide with the established structure of this instrument. Proposals to improve and adapt questionnaire are discussed with a view to make it applicable to cultures other than the one it was developed. Theoretical models relating to psychosocial aspects such as family functioning, albeit compatible in some areas, should be viewed with caution in cultures different to that in which the model originates.

Cocaine Addiction and Family Dysfunction: A Case-Control Study in Southern Brazil

Family-related factors play a crucial role in the onset, development, and maintenance of drug misuse and addiction. To investigate the hypothesis that families with a cocaine addicted son display more dysfunction than control families, we applied the Personal Authority in the Family System and the Self-Report Measure of Family Functioning to 67 case triads (child–father–mother) in which the son was an inpatient with a primary diagnosis of cocaine abuse or dependence and to 67 matched control triads from the community (Pelotas, Brazil) in 2000. Case children, mothers, and fathers were significantly more likely to present nuclear family triangulation than their matched control subjects. In addition, case triads had a significantly greater chance of perceiving family functioning as enmeshment. These results suggest both structural and functional differences in these families. We argue for the need of interventions in the family as a whole and for further research in this area.

The structure of family perceptions among adolescents and their parents: individual satisfaction factors and family system factors.

This study examined the underlying structure of self-reports of family functioning by adolescents, mothers, and fathers (N of individuals = 360) from intact families. Participants completed a multidimensional self-report measure of family functioning, and their responses were entered into a factor analysis with the family as the unit of analysis (N of cases = 120). The results indicate two types of factors: individual satisfaction factors and family system factors. The findings are consistent with the view that different types of characteristics assessed in self-report measures of the family may be stored as different kinds of memories. The findings also provide preliminary data toward understanding the linkages between family system factors and satisfaction with the family based on family roles as adolescents, mothers, and fathers.

Self-report measures of family functioning: extensions of a factorial analysis.

A factor analysis of four commonly used self-report measures of family functioning (Bloom, 1985) yielded 15 5-item factors. Five of these item sets have now been revised and strengthened. These modifications were undertaken because a review of the literature has revealed that the results of the factor analysis are being increasingly used in family studies. The rationale and description of the revisions of the factor item sets are presented. Psychometric analysis of the revised factors suggests that factor scores are highly reliable as well as stable over time. In addition to presenting comprehensive reliability data, this article provides information regarding factor score intercorrelations and structure, as well as a commentary on the factors themselves.

A cross-cultural study of family functioning

The Family Assessment Device (FAD) was used to compare patterns of family functioning in two cultural settings, North America and Hungary. The sample size consisted of 95 nonclinical North American families and 58 nonclinical Hungarian families. No cross-cultural differences were found in the families' general functioning nor in their affective involvement or affective responsiveness as measured by the FAD. Hungarian families, however, perceived their functioning as significantly better than the North American families in problem-solving and in communication. North American families rated themselves significantly better than the Hungarians in setting family rules and boundaries and in meeting their family responsibilities. Results from this study suggest that cultural values can affect a family's functioning and that differences in areas of family functioning can be captured using the FAD. A discussion of broad societal values of the two cultures was used to interpret the contrasting patterns of family functioning. Cross-cultural studies serve many purposes. In general they provide knowledge about the different cultures under investigation. As such, they broaden and enrich our perspectives of ourselves and the world around us. More specifically they highlight similarities and differences across cultures, information that can be helpful in further refining our understanding of the impact of diverse and varying socio-political forces. A topic of particular interest to family therapists and researchers is family functioning in different cultural settings. In spite of continuing research in this area, few studies examine cross-cultural patterns of family interactions and even fewer do so with instruments specifically designed to assess family functioning. From a family perspective, particularly looking at pathology in family functioning, cross-cultural comparisons can be used to highlight areas of dysfunction common to families irrespective of the cultural context. From a cross-cultural perspective, family comparisons can be used to point out the cultural effects and emphases given to different dimensions of functioning within a common system (i.e., the family unit). Both conceptual and methodological problems have contributed to shortcomings in previous cross-cultural studies (Fabrega, 1974; Kleinman, 1987; Flaherty et al., 1988; Rogler, 1989). A basic criticism of such studies has been the assumption that meanings and values in one culture are equivalent to those in another. Another issue, which is particularly pertinent to our study, is the use of an instrument which is developed in one culture and administered in another cultural setting. A potential problem this raises is inferring cultural differences between groups when the translated and the original instruments are not actually comparable in meaning. In fact, one objective of the study was to see whether our own self-report measure of family functioning, the Family Assessment Device (FAD, Epstein et al., 1978, 1983), could be successfully used in another cultural setting. The following report is part of a larger research project, conducted in 1986–87, that compared depressed and nonclinical families across two cultures. The findings presented here are comparisons between nonclinical Hungarian and nonclinical North American families. In our earlier study differences in family interactions between clinically depressed and nonclinical families were evident in both cultural settings (Keitner et al., in press). It was not clear, however, if significant cross-cultural differences in family functioning would be found for the “normal” group of families and, if so, how these would differ from their ill counterparts. Inclusion of the normal families thus served two purposes, as controls in the larger study to test within cultural differences and as comparison groups in a separate analysis to test between cultural differences. A specific objective of this study was to contrast patterns of perceived family functioning in nonclinical Hungarian families and North American families. Another objective was to determine if the Family Assessment Device (FAD), a self-report measure of family functioning, could be successfully used in different cultural contexts. Hungary was chosen as an appropriate country of study for several reasons. It is at the crossroads of East and West, sharing enough similarities with western culture to validate comparisons, yet different enough in both its cultural and sociopolitical system that some differences could be expected to emerge. Because it is likely that the Hungarian social system is less familiar to readers than that of North American, the results are discussed with particular reference to Hungary.

Family dysfunction in normal weight bulimic and bulimic anorexic families

A group of 24 normal weight bulimics and 13 bulimic anorexics were compared with each other and a normal control group (n = 41) on two self-report measures of family functioning (Family Environment Scale and Family Dynamics Survey). The two bulimic groups perceived their families as more dysfunctional than did the normal control group on the dimensions of cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, recreational orientation, emotional support, communication, and need for counseling. There were few significant differences in the family perceptions of the two bulimic groups.

A factor analysis of self-report measures of family functioning.

Four well-known, self-report measures of family functioning were serially examined in order to identify a limited set of reliable concepts for describing families. Following the completion of four separate data collection procedures, a 75-item scale comprising 15 dimensions of family functioning was constructed. The dimensions appear reasonably independent of each other and have satisfactory psychometric properties. An initial effort to validate the scales was undertaken by contrasting scale scores obtained from descriptions of intact families with those obtained from descriptions of families that subsequently were disrupted by separation and divorce. Significant differences in scale scores were obtained on 12 of the 15 dimensions of family functioning. The 15 dimensions of family functioning could be subsumed under the three general headings suggested by Moos, Insel, and Humphrey (14)--relationship dimensions, personal growth or value dimensions, and system maintenance dimensions.