How is your Family?—Brief scale for adolescents Fundación W. K. Kellogg. 1996

Abstract

The “How is your Family?—Brief scale for adolescents” is a concise 14-item instrument developed by the Fundación W. K. Kellogg in 1996, often associated with publications from the Organización Pan Americana de la Salud (OPS). This scale is designed to assess the quality of family relationships and connection as perceived by young people. It specifically measures key dimensions of communication and emotional closeness across three distinct areas: the adolescent’s relationship with the father, the adolescent’s relationship with the mother, and the cohesion and shared activities within the nuclear family unit. It utilizes a response format to gauge the frequency or satisfaction level regarding these interactions.

Keywords

Family communication, Parent-child relationship, Adolescent well-being, Nuclear family, Family cohesion, Psychological assessment, Latino youth, Psychometrics, Fundación W. K. Kellogg

Authors

Fundación W. K. Kellogg, Organización Pan Americana de la Salud (OPS)

Purpose

The primary purpose of this brief scale is to provide a rapid and focused assessment of the functional quality of the adolescent’s family environment. It serves as a valuable tool for public health researchers and practitioners, particularly those working with youth populations, to identify potential deficits or strengths in family relationships that may impact the adolescent’s health and development. By compartmentalizing the assessment into parental and nuclear components, the instrument allows for targeted intervention strategies.

The scale was developed within the context of health indicators research concerning family and adolescence, aiming to provide standardized measures suitable for use in large-scale studies, often focusing on specific cultural groups such, as Latino families, as evidenced by its inclusion in relevant assessment tool compendiums.

Construct

The central psychological construct measured is Communication-Connection within the family system. This construct is operationalized through three distinct subscales, reflecting the multifaceted nature of family dynamics. These subscales address both dyadic and systemic aspects of interaction and support:

• Communication-Connection with the father: Focuses on the adolescent’s perception of time spent talking, satisfaction with dialogue, ease of expressing feelings, understanding, and reliance during difficult situations.
• Communication-Connection with the mother: Mirrors the father subscale, assessing the quality of the emotional and communicative bond with the maternal figure.
• Communication-Connection with the nuclear family: Measures family cohesion and shared activities, including routine behaviors such as sharing meals, engaging in weekly joint activities, spending free time together, and sharing household responsibilities.

Validity

Specific details regarding the empirical validation studies (e.g., content validity, criterion validity, construct validity) for this brief 14-item version are typically housed within the accompanying official manuals published by the Fundación W. K. Kellogg and OPS. Given its inclusion in a compendium targeting Latino families, it is assumed that the instrument underwent cultural adaptation and validation to ensure its relevance and appropriateness for this specific population group.

Researchers utilizing the scale should refer to the original technical reports (listed in the References) for comprehensive information on how the items were derived and validated against established measures of family functioning and adolescent psychological well-being. The structure of the instrument suggests strong face validity regarding core aspects of family communication and support.

Reliability

Detailed reliability statistics, such as Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for internal consistency across the subscales, or test-retest reliability data, are not provided in the brief entry. High-quality psychometrics are expected to be documented in the full technical manual, particularly since the scale was developed by major international health organizations for use in public health surveillance.

The three distinct subscales imply that the developers sought to maintain reliable measurement specific to the relationship with each parent and the overall family unit, rather than relying solely on a single global score for family functioning.

Factor Analysis

Although the results of the factor analysis are not explicitly stated, the structure of the 14 items clearly suggests a hypothesized three-factor solution corresponding directly to the three dimensions of the construct: Connection with Father, Connection with Mother, and Connection with the Nuclear Family. A successful factor analysis would confirm this underlying structure, demonstrating that the items load distinctly onto their respective factors, thus supporting the differentiated measurement of dyadic parental bonds versus systemic family cohesion.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire/Brief scale

Format: 5-point Likert-type scale

Language Available: Primarily Spanish (developed in a Latin American context) and English translations are available.

Population Group: Adolescents and youth

Age Group: Typically 10 to 19 years, depending on the specific study parameters.

Population Details: Originally designed for use with Latino families and youth, but applicable to general adolescent populations.

Test Methodology: Respondents answer 14 items based on the perceived frequency or satisfaction level of specific family interactions. The scoring system assigns points as follows:

• 0 = Never
• 0 = Very rarely
• 1 = Sometimes
• 2 = Frequently
• 2 = Almost always

All questions are required to be answered to obtain a composite score reflecting family connection strength.

Keywords

Family assessment, Adolescent health, Parental bonding, Family support, Communication skills, Psychological measure, Research tool, Cohesion, Fundación W. K. Kellogg

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified (Affiliated primarily with Fundación W. K. Kellogg and OPS)

Correspondence Address: Refer to the official publications by Fundación W. K. Kellogg (1996) and Organización Pan Americana de la Salud (1999) based in Washington, D.C.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Permissions for use are generally granted through the publishing bodies (Fundación W. K. Kellogg and OPS), often intended for non-commercial research and public health applications. Users should consult the source manuals for specific usage rights.

Fee: Not specified, but generally available in public domain resources provided by PAHO.

Test Year: 1996

Reference’s

The instrument and related documentation can be sourced from the following publications and online resources:

• Fundación W. K. Kellogg. (1996). Familia y adolescencia: Indicadores de salud. Manual de Aplicación de Instrumentos. Washington, D.C. The original PDF manual can be downloaded here: http://www.paho.org/Spanish/HPP/HPF/ADOL/Family.pdf
• Organización Pan Americana de la Salud [OPS]. (1999). Familia y Adolescencia. Indicadores de Salud. Manual de aplicación de instrumentos e instrumento abreviado. Washington, D.C.
• The instrument is featured in Latino Families and Youth: A Compendium of Assessment Tools, available online at: http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=23171&Itemid
• A related measurement document is also available as a PDF download here: http://www.codajic.org/sites/www.codajic.org/files/Binder-orpinas%20meassurement.pdf

Items of the How is your Family?—Brief scale for adolescents Fundación W. K. Kellogg. 1996

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

Communication-Connection with the father

1. M y father spends time every day talking with the children.
2. I am satisfied with the way my father and I talk with each other.
3. I t is easy to express my feelings to my father.
4. M y father understands me.
5. I f I am in a difficult situation‚ I can tell my father.

Communication-Connection with the mother

1. M y mother spends time every day talking with the children.
2. I am satisfied with the way my mother and I talk with each other.
3. I t is easy to express my feelings to my mother.
4. M y mother understands me.
5. I f I am in a difficult situation‚ I can tell my mother.

Communication-Connection with the nuclear family

1. We share a meal every day.
2. We do something together as a family at least once a week.
3. We like to spend our free time together.
4. We share household tasks and responsibilities.