title: Brief report: Development of a brief scale to assess family support function among Chinese high school students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a brief family support function scale for Chinese high school students (FSFS-CHSS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Standard procedures for scale development (identification of conceptual model, literature review, item selection and modification using consumer and expert panels and item reduction techniques) were used to develop a 17-item scale. Families of students in 96 high school classes in Hunan were used for item selection and validation. A subset of 4 out of 96 classes was selected as a test-retest sample.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A brief CHSS-FSFS with 17 items was found to have good test-retest and internal consistency reliability (Pearson correlation coefficient: 0.89, P<0.05; Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.87). Three factors were extracted using factor analysis, accounting for 48% of total variation. Comparison of CHSS-FSFS score between healthy and unhealthy families was statistically significant, t=7.58, P<0.01.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CHSS-FSFS is a reliable and valid tool for family support function assessment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Central South University, 110 Xiangya Road, Changsha, Hunan 410078, China. huguoqing009@gmail.com
authors.forename: Guoqing
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Zhenqiu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Xunqiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Renan C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Castillo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011594:Psychometrics; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires