The Brief Family Relationship Scale: A Brief Measure of the Relationship Dimension in Family Functioning

Carlotta Ching Ting Fok, James Allen, David Henry, People Awakening Team

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

94 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Relationship dimension of the Family Environment Scale, which consists of the Cohesion, Expressiveness, and Conflict subscales, measures a person's perception of the quality of his or her family relationship functioning. This study investigates an adaptation of the Relationship dimension of the Family Environment Scale for Alaska Native youth. The authors tested the adapted measure, the Brief Family Relationship Scale, for psychometric properties and internal structure with 284 12- to 18-year-old predominately Yup'ik Eskimo Alaska Native adolescents from rural, remote communities. This non-Western cultural group is hypothesized to display higher levels of collectivism traditionally organized around an extended kinship family structure. Results demonstrate a subset of the adapted items function satisfactorily, a three-response alternative format provided meaningful information, and the subscale's underlying structure is best described through three distinct first-order factors, organized under one higher order factor. Convergent and discriminant validity of the Brief Family Relationship Scale was assessed through correlational analysis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)67-72
Number of pages6
JournalAssessment
Volume21
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2014

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was funded by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Center for Minority Health Disparities (R21AA0016098, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, PI: James Allen; R24MD001626, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, PI: James Allen; R21AA015541, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, PI: Gerald V. Mohatt; R01AA11446, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism & National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, PI: Gerald V. Mohatt; P20RR061430, National Center for Research Resources, PI: Gerald V. Mohatt) and a University of Alaska International Polar Year Postdoctoral Fellowship award to the first author.

Keywords

  • Alaska Native
  • cohesion
  • conflict
  • expressiveness
  • family climate
  • family relationships

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