Family Organized Cohesiveness Scale (FOS)

Abstract

The Family Organized Cohesiveness Scale (FOS) is a psychological scale designed to measure key organizational and relational dynamics within a family unit. Developed by Fisher, Ransom, Terry, and Burge in 1992, the FOS assesses the degree of closeness, shared understanding, and structural clarity perceived by family members. It focuses specifically on dimensions such as family cohesiveness, the sharedness of values and activities, clarity of leadership roles, and the explicit nature of family rules and consequences. The scale is widely recognized and utilized in research concerning family structure and its correlation with clinical practice and overall adult health outcomes.

Keywords

Family Cohesiveness, Family Organization, Family Structure, Clarity of Rules, Sharedness, Leadership Clarity, Family Health, Psychometrics, Family Assessment.

Authors

Fisher, L., Ransom, D.C., Terry, H.E., Burge, S.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Family Organized Cohesiveness Scale (FOS) is to provide a quantitative measure of the organizational health and relational closeness within a family system. It was initially developed as part of the larger California Family Health Project to investigate how specific aspects of family structure relate to physical and psychological adult health markers.

The scale offers researchers and clinicians a systematic way to gauge familial functioning beyond simple self-report measures of satisfaction, focusing instead on observable behaviors and structural clarity, such as time spent together and the transparency of decision-making processes. This assessment is vital for understanding functional versus dysfunctional family patterns.

Construct

The FOS is a multidimensional instrument targeting four primary sub-constructs related to family organization and functioning: Cohesiveness, Sharedness, Clarity of Leadership, and Clarity of Rules.

• Cohesiveness: This dimension measures the emotional bonding, closeness, and mutual involvement among family members, reflecting the degree to which they feel connected and spend time together.
• Sharedness: This refers to the extent that family members hold similar values, thoughts, feelings, and share social circles (e.g., friends).
• Clarity of Leadership: This dimension assesses the transparency regarding who holds decision-making authority within the family unit, ensuring that roles are well-defined and understood by all members.
• Clarity of Rules: This measures the extent to which family rules, expectations, and the consequences for breaking those rules are explicit, stable, and known to everyone.

Validity

Specific detailed psychometric information regarding the FOS’s validity is primarily documented in the original 1992 publication by Fisher et al. (The California Family Health Project). The scale demonstrated strong construct validity by correlating appropriately with various measures of family structure and organization, successfully distinguishing between families based on their reported levels of organization and closeness.

Its inclusion in major resource books, such as Measures for Clinical Practice and Research, attests to its recognized utility and face validity within the field of family assessment. The FOS is specifically valued for its ability to predict adult health outcomes based on family structural variables, suggesting robust predictive validity within the context of the original study.

Reliability

While the specific coefficient values (e.g., Cronbach’s Alpha) are detailed in the original research paper, scales of this nature generally exhibit good internal consistency, particularly for the overall measure of family organization and cohesiveness. High reliability ensures that the instrument consistently measures the constructs it intends to assess, regardless of when or where it is administered.

Factor Analysis

The structure of the FOS, which measures 13 items across four distinct, yet related, dimensions (Cohesiveness, Sharedness, Clarity of Leadership, and Clarity of Rules), suggests that it was developed or validated using factor analytic techniques. Such analyses confirm that the items cluster together conceptually as intended, supporting the multi-faceted nature of the family organization construct.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Questionnaire / Family Assessment Scale

Format: 13 items utilizing a 6-point Likert scale response format.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Family members (typically adults reporting on the family environment).

Age Group: Typically utilized with adult populations, although the items refer to the family system as a whole.

Population Details: Originally used within the context of the California Family Health Project to study the relationship between family organization and adult health.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate their level of agreement with each statement on a 6-point scale:

1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Mildly disagree
4. Mildly agree
5. Agree
6. Strongly agree

Keywords

Family Systems Theory, Organizational Structure, Family Functioning, Psychological Assessment, Social Support, Family Cohesiveness, Role Clarity.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source material.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source material.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was first published and utilized in research in 1992. As the FOS is published within academic resource books, researchers often reference the original source material for use. Users should consult the publisher of the original journal article in Family Process (1992) or the reference sourcebook (Fischer & Corcoran, 2007) for explicit permissions regarding reproduction or large-scale clinical use.

Reference’s

• Fischer, L., Ransom, D.C., Terry, H.E., Burge, S. (1992). The California Family Health Project: IV. Family structure/organization and adult health. Family Process, 31(4):399-419.
• Fisher, L., Ransom, D.C., Terry, H.E., Burge, S. (1992). Family Organized Cohesiveness Scale (FOS). In Fischer, Joel., Corcoran, Kevin J. (2007). Measures for Clinical Practice and research: A sourcebook. (4th ed.). NY. Oxford University Pr. Vol. 1, Page (s): 309-310.

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Items of the Family Organized Cohesiveness Scale (FOS)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Family members spend much of their free time together.
2. It is hard to know what the rules are in our family because they are always changing.*
3. It is easy to know who the leader is in our family.
4. It is unclear what will happen when rules are broken in our family.*
5. It is clear about what is best for family members.
6. Family togetherness is important.
7. In our family everybody knows what is expected of them.
8. It is clear who makes the decisions.
9. Members of our family are not very involved with each other.*
10. In our family‚ we are alike in how we think and feel.
11. Family members share the same friends.
12. Family members feel very close to each other.
13. When our family gets together for activities‚ everybody is present.

* Reverse score