Brief report: Development of the family perceptions scale; a novel instrument for evaluating subjective functioning in the families of adolescents

• Published in: Journal of adolescence (London, England.) England.), 2011-06, Vol.34 (3), p.593-597
• Main Authors: Tiffin, Paul A, Kaplan, Carole, Place, Maurice
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; Assessment; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Correlation; Discriminant analysis; Factor Analysis; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Families & family life; Family functioning; Family Relations; Family Relationship; Family Stability; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Item Analysis; Male; Measures (Individuals); Mental health; Pediatrics; Perceptions; Pilot Projects; Problem Solving; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics. Sociometry; Rating Scales; Reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Responses; Schools; Social Behavior; Social Perception; Social psychology; Students; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Teenagers
• ISSN: 0140-1971; 1095-9254
• DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2010.03.001

Abstract 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