Brief report: Development of the family perceptions scale; a novel instrument for evaluating subjective functioning in the families of adolescents.
A pool of 75 items relating to family functioning was created and piloted in a sample of 12-18 year olds (N = 673). The responses were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis which indicated the presence of three significant latent traits. The results were then used to inform the development of a rating instrument with five subscales labelled Nurture, Problem Solving, Expressed Emotion, Behavioural Boundaries and Responsibility. These demonstrated high levels of internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas .70-.81), high test-retest reliability (rho = .70-.82), varying degrees of intercorrelation (rho = .18-.75) and significant associations with family functioning as defined by the McMaster Family Assessment Device (p < 0.0001 in all cases). This novel instrument is a promising tool for use in both clinical practice and research.
Tiffin
Paul A
PA
The School for Medicine and Health, Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University, United Kingdom. p.a.tiffin@dur.ac.uk
Kaplan
Carole
C
Place
Maurice
M
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards