Psychological Reports, 1992, 70, 1223-1229.
O Psychological Reports 1992
RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF T H E ADOLESCENT FAMILY LIFE SATISFACTION INDEX CAROLYN S. HENRY
DIANE L. OSTRANDER
Department of Family Relations and Child Development Oklahoma State Uniuersitj
Deparhnent of Human Development, Child and Family Studies South Dakota State Uniuersitj
SANDRA G. LOVELACE Plano, Texas Summary.-The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction Index. The self-report questionnaire was tested for internal consistency reliability. Tests for construct validity, concurrent validity, and internal consistency reliability provided support for the use of the over-all Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction Index, Parental Subscale, and Sibling Subscale for the measurement of adolescents' reports of satisfaction with family life.
The importance of satisfaction with family life as an element of over-all life satisfaction has been established for adults across the life cycle (Campbell, Converse, & Rodgers, 1976; Medley, 1980). Instruments have been developed to assess the over-all satisfaction of adults with family life (McCollum, Schumm, & Russell, 1988; Olson, McCubbin, Barnes, Larsen, Muxen, & Wilson, 1983) and satisfaction with specific dimensions of family life, especially marital relations (Glenn, 1990; Sabatelli, 1988), and to a lesser extent parenting experiences (Goetting, 1986). Research, however, has focused upon the satisfaction of adults with family life, with minimal empirical study of adolescents' satisfaction with family life. Traditional conceptualizations of adolescents' functioning in the family context have been based upon the premise that adolescence is a time of separating from families (Gecas & Seff, 1990). During the past decade, however, research has indicated that adolescents function most effectively in families that encourage a balance between separation and connectedness (Cooper, Grotevant, & Condon, 1984; Peterson & Leigh, 1990). Further, according to symbolic interactionist theory, adolescents may be expected to evaluate their family experiences positively when they perceive theit interactions with parents and siblings to encourage the development of social competence or the qualities necessary to function effectively in the broader society (Peterson,
'Support for this research was provided by the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station (Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station Manuscript No. 6124). An earlier version of this paper was presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual Meeting, Denver, C O (November, 1991). Address correspondence to Carolyn S. Henry, Ph.D., Department of Family Relations and Child Development, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-0337.
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C. S. HENRY, ETAL.
1986a, 1987; Peterson & Leigh, 1990; Peterson & Rollins, 1987). An important aspect of adolescents' social competence that relates to f a d y functioning is the ability to develop and maintain social relationships while demonstrating a sense of autonomy (Peterson & Leigh, 1990; Peterson & Rollins, 1987). As youth perceive their interactions with parents and siblings provide the opportunity to feel connected while exploring life beyond the family setting, they may be expected to define their family experiences in a positive manner. In turn, greater satisfaction with f a d y life is likely to be reported by adolescents who perceive their relations with parents and siblings provide a sense of autonomy and connectedness within the family context. The significance of adolescents' satisfaction with family life is highlighted by findings that adolescents' satisfaction with over-all family life and satisfaction in relationships with parents were positively related to perceptions of quality of life (Schumm, Bugaighis, Bollman, & Jurich, 1986; Schumm, McCollum, Bugaighis, Jurich, & Bollman, 1986). As part of a national survey of families, Olson, et al. (1983) assessed the extent to which family members, including adolescents, were satisfied with the level of cohesion and adaptability in their families. Since the focus of the Olson, et al. (1983) study was on family systems rather than adolescents, the measurement was limited to questions relating to both parents and adolescents. Thus, adolescents' satisfaction with their families as developmental contexts has not previously been empirically investigated. To address this deficiency, the purpose of this study was to develop and conduct a preliminary examination of an instrument designed to assess adolescents' satisfaction with their f a d e s while recognizing the sahence of both parents and siblings as key elements in the family context of adolescent development. Specifically, the internal consistency reliability and validity of the Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction Index, the Parental Subscale, and the Sibling Subscale were examined.
METHODAND RESULTS The subjects were a subsample of 427 students from four high schools in a southwestern state who were part of a larger study of adolescents and their families. After the initial screening of school systems based upon the socioeconomic variability in the communities, school officials (i.e., superintendents or principals) were contacted to schedule two visits to each school. The initial contact with subjects occurred in their English classes when research team members explained the purpose and procedures of the study. Students who chose to participate were asked to return consent forms signed by both the subjects and their parents. O n the second visit, the research team administered the self-report questionnaire during the subjects' English classes. From the initial group of 490 subjects completing the over-d project
ADOLESCENTS' SATISFACTION: FAMILY LIFE
1225
questionnaires, a subsample of 427 subjects who reported having at least one sibling were selected for the present study. Of the subsample, 42.6% (n = 182) were boys, 57.1% (n = 244) were girls, and .3% (n = 1) did not indicate gender. The mean age of the subjects was 16.1 yr.; range 13 to 19 years. The racial composition of the sample was 384 (89.9%) white, 20 (4.7%) Native American, 14 (3.3%) black, 3 (.7%) Hispanic, 1 (2%)Asian, and 5 (1.2%) who were other races or did not indicate race. Two hundred and fifty-eight (60.4%) lived with both parents, 96 (22.5%) lived in stepfarnilies, 43 (10%) lived with one parent, and 30 (7.1%) reported other living arrangements. The subjects indicated the number of siblings, including stepsiblings, ranged from 1 to 10, with a mean of 2.42. The Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction Index was developed by the first and third authors to assess the satisfaction of adolescents with aspects of family life. Specifically, the instrument measured the extent to which adolescents were satisfied with the ability of their families to provide a sense of connectedness while encouraging the development of autonomy in relationships with parents and siblings and in parents' relationships with each other. The instrument was composed of 13 items scored on a scale in Likert format (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). The subjects were directed to respond to each statement based upon their feelings about the family members living in their homes, including stepfamily members. Both the parental and sibling subscales began with the statement "I am satisfied with" and contained statements with which to complete the sentence. Total scores were established by summing the responses to each of the 13 items. Three items on the scale were developed and used by Schumm and colleagues (Martin, Schumm, Bugaighis, Jurich, & Bollman, 1987; Schumm, Bugaighis, Bollman, & Jurich, 1986; Schumm, Bugaighis, Jurich, & Bollman, 1986; Schumm, McCollum, Bugaighis, Jurich, & Bollman, 1986; Schumm, McCollum, Bugaighis, Jurich, Bollman, & Reitz, 1988) as single-item measures of adolescents' satisfaction with dimensions of family life. These items asked adolescents to report satisfaction with (1) "my parents' relationship with each other," (2) "my over-all relationship with my parent(s)," and (3) "my over-all relationship(s) with my siblings." The other 10 items asked questions about the extent to which the subjects perceived their parents and siblings provided a family atmosphere that allowed a balance between comectedness and separation between the adolescent and family. These items were developed to assess concepts consistent with previous conceptualizations of adolescents' autonomy (Peterson, 1986b; Peterson & Stivers, 1986) and adolescents' conformity to their families' expectations (i.e., an indicator of family connectedness; Henry, Wilson, & Peterson, 1989; Peterson, Rollins, & Thomas, 1985; Thomas, Gecas, Weigert, & Rooney, 1974).
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C. S. HENRY, ETAL.
Three social scientists (external to the project) were asked to examine the extent to which the 13 items in the scale measured adolescents' satisfaction with family connectedness and the opportunity to develop autonomy and assessed the clarity and readability of the items (DeVellis, 1991). Next, the scale was administered to a sample of 23 high school students to allow further consideration of the readability and clarity of the items. These procedures resulted in minor revisions in the wording of items. Means, standard deviations, and ranges for each of the items are shown in Table 1. An initial over-all reliability estimate of the Index (alpha = .90; see Table 2) was established using the SPSS (SPSS, Inc., 1990) reliability analysis, Cronbach alpha (Cronbach, 1951). TABLE 1 MEANSAND STANDARD DEVIATIONSFOR THE ADOLESCENT FAMILY LIFT SATISFACTION INDEXITEMS (N = 427) --
Item Content
M
--
~
SD
I am satisfied with how much my parent(s) approve of me and the things I do the amount of freedom my parent(s) give me to make my own choices the ways my parent(s) want me to ttunk and act the amount of influence my parent(s) have over my actions the ways my parent(s) try to control my actions my parent(s) relationship with each other my over-all relationship with my parent(s) how much my brothers and/or sisters approve of me and the things I do the amount of freedom my brothers and/or sisters give me to make my own choices the ways my brothers and/or sisters want me to think and act the amount of influence my brothers and/or sisten have over my actions the ways my brothen and/or sisters try to control my actions my over-all relationship(s) with my brothers and/or sisters
The Bartlett Test of Sphericity, a test for appropriateness of the 13 by 13 correlation matrix for factor analysis (Bejar, 1978), was significant at the ,0001 level (see Table 2). Measures of the off-diagonal elements in the antiimage covariance matrix and the reproduced correlation, the residuals above the diagonal greater than .05 (Norusis, 1988) and the Kaiser-Meyer-Ollun Measure of Sampling Adequacy (see Table 2; Kaiser, 1970) indicated the data were appropriate for principal components factoring. Construct vabdity for the Index was established, using SPSS principal components factoring followed by varimax rotation (SPSS, Inc., 1990), a procedure used in the exploratory testing of scales (Jackson & Chan, 1980; Kim & Mueller, 1978). As predicted, the principal components factoring yielded two subscales, the Parental Subscale and the Sibling Subscale (see Table 2). The amount of variance in adolescents' family life satisfaction accounted for
ADOLESCENTS' SATISFACTION: FAMILY LIFE TABLE 2
PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS FACTOPJNG FOLLOWED BY VARIMAXROTATION FORTHE ADOLESCENTFAMILY LIFE SATLSFACTION INDEX Item Content
Parental Factor
Sibling Factor
.80 .80 .76
.19 .18 .25
.72 .67 .66 .15
.09 .09 .25 .85
.15
.83
I am satisfied with how much my parent(s) approve of me and the things I do the amount of influence my parent(s) have over my actions my over-all relationship with my parent(s) want me to think and act the ways , rnv . parent(s) the amount of freedom my parent(~)give me to make my own choices my parent(s) relationship with each other the ways my parent(s) try to control my actions the ways my brothers and/or sisters want me to think and act the amount of influence my brothers and/or sisters have over my actions how much my brothers and/or sisters approve of me and the things I do the amount of freedom my brothers and/or sisters give me to make my own choices the ways my brothers and/or sisters try to control my actions my over-a!J relationshp(s) with my brothers and/or sisters Eigenvalue % of Variance Cumulative Percent Cronbach's alpha
Note.-Kaiser-Meyet-Okn Measure of Sampling Adequacy = .90; Bartlett Test of Sphericity = 3032.63, p.09 = 26 (16.7%); Residuals Above Diagonal>0.05 = 32 (41%); Cronbach's alpha for the over-all Index = .90.
by each subscale and the individual item factor loadings are reported in Table 2. As also indicated in Table 2, each item loaded in excess of .63 on one of the two subscales ("very good" factor loadings; Comrey, 1973), thus, all items were retained in the final scale. The respective internal consistency reliability coefficients for the Parental and Sibling Subscales were .88 and .89 (see Table 2). Concurrent validity was established based on the Pearson correlations among the Index, the Parental Subscale, and the Sibling Subscale, and the Family Satisfaction Scale (Olson & Wilson, 1982). The internal consistency reliabibty coefficient (Cronbach's alpha) for the Family Satisfaction Scale using this sample was .93. The over-all Index, the Parental Subscale, and the Sibling Subscale were significantly and positively correlated ( p 1 . 0 1 ) with the Family Satisfaction Scale: .72 for the over-all Index, .78 for the Parental Subscale, and .43 for the Sibling Subscale. This preliminary evaluation of the Adolescent Farmly Life Satisfaction
1228
C. S. HENRY, E T A L .
Index supports the reliability and validity of the instrument. Specifically, the over-all Index, the Parental Subscale, and the Sibling Subscale showed h g h internal consistency reliabhty. Principal components factoring followed by varimax rotation supported the construct validity of the Index by indicating the scale consistently measured the two predicted underlying constructs of adolescents' satisfaction in relations with parents and in relations with siblings. Concurrent validity was estimated in relation to the F a d y Satisfaction Scale (Olson & Wilson, 1982). The factor loadings and Cronbach alphas indicate the 13-item instrument is appropriate for use in research. Further research with the Index and subscales with other samples is needed. For example, the limited range of racial backgrounds and geographic location of these subjects requires additional studies to validate the Index and subscales for other samples. In summary, the initial testing of the Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction Index shows it to be useful for measuring adolescents' satisfaction with family life. REFERENCES BEJAR,I. I. (1978) Comment on Duziban and Shhkey's decision rules for factor analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 325-326. CAMPBELL, A,, CONVERSE, P E., & RODGERS,W. L. (1976) The quality of American life. New York: Russell Sage Found. COMREY,A. L. (1973) Afirst course infactor analysis. New York: Academic Press. COOPER,C., GROTEVANT, H . , & CONDON, S. (1984) Individuality and connectedness in the f a d y as a context for adolescent identity formation and role-taking skill. In H. Grotevant & C. Cooper (Eds.), New directions for child development: adolescent development in the family. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Pp. 43-60. CRONBACH, L. J. (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297-334. DEVELLIS,R. F. (1991) Scale development: theory and applications. Newbury Park,CA: Sage. GECAS,V., & SEFF, M. A. (1990) Families and adolescents: a review of the 1980s. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 941-958. GLENN,N. D. (1990) Quantitative research on marital quality in the 1980s. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 818-831. G O E ~ GA., (1986) Parental satisfaction: a review of research. Journal of Family Issues, 7, 83-109. HENRY,C. S., WILSON,S. M., & PETERSON, G . W. (1989) Parental power bases and processes as predictors of adolescent confornuty. Journal of Adolescent Research, 4, 15-32. JACKSON,D. N., & CHAN,D. W. (1980) Maximum-likelihood estimation in common factor analysis: a cautionary note. Prychological Bulletin, 88, 502-508. KAISER,H. F, (1970) A second generation little jiffy. Psychometrika, 35, 401-416. KIM, J. O., & MUELLER,C. W. (1978) Introduction to factor analysis: what it is and how to do it. Beverly HiUs, CA: Sage. MARTIN, M. ., SCHUMM,\Y! R., BUGAIGHIS, M. A., JURICH, A. P., & BOLLMAN,S. R. (1987) Fa ' y violence and adolescents' perceptions of outcomes of family conflict. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49, 165-171. MCCOLLUM,E. E., SCHUMM,W. R., & RUSSELL,C. S. (1988) Reliability and validity of the Kansas Family Life Satisfaction Scale in a predominantly middle-aged sample. Psychological Reports, 62, 95-98. MEDLEY,M. L. (1980) Life satisfaction across four stages of adult life. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 11, 193-209. NORUSIS,M. J. (1988) SPSY aduanced statistics guide. (2nd ed.) Chicago, IL: SPSS, Inc.
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OLSON,D. H., M c C m ~ m H. , I., BARNES,H., LARSEN,A,, MUXEN,M., & WILSON,M. (1983) Families: what makes them work. Beverly Ws, CA: Sage. OLSON,D. H., & WILSON,M. (1982) Family satisfaction. In D. H. Olson, H. I. McCubbin, H. Barnes, A. Larsen, M. Muxen, & M. Wilson (Eds.), Family inventories: inventories used in a national survey of families across the family life qcle. St. Paul, MN: Department of Family Social Science, Univer. of Minnesota. Pp. 25-31. PETERSON, G . W. (1986a) Family conceptual frameworks and adolescent development. In G . K. Leigh & G . W. Peterson (Eds.), Adolescents in families. Cincinnati, O H : SouthWestern. Pp. 12-35. PETERSON, G . W. (1986b) Parent-youth power dimensions and the behavioral autonomy of adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 1, 231-249. PETERSON, G . W. (1987) Role transitions and role identities during adolescence: a symbolic interactionist view. Journal of Adolescent Research, 2, 237-254. PETERSON, G . W., & LEIGH,G . K. (1990) The family and social competence in adolescence. In T. P. Gullota, G . R. Adams, & R. Montemayor (Eds.), Advances in adolescent development: social competence. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Pp. 97-183. PETERSON, G . W., & ROLLINS,B. C. (1987) Parent-child socialization as symbolic interaction. In M. B. Sussman & S. K. Steinmetz (Eds.), Handbook of marriage and thefamily. New York: Plenum. Pp. 471-508. PETERSON, G . W., ROLLINS,B. C., & THOMAS,D. L. (1985) Parental influence and adolescent conformity: compliance and internalization. Youth and Society, 16, 397-420. PETERSON,G. W., & STIVERS,M. E. (1986) Adolescent behavioral autonomy and family connectedness in rural Appalachia. Family Perspective, 20, 307-322. SABATELLI, R. M. (1988) Measuement issues in marital research: a review and critique of contemporary survey instruments. Journal ofMarriage and the Family, 50, 891-915. SCHUMM,W. R., BUGAIGHIS, M. A,, BOLLMAN, S. R., & JURICH,A. P (1986) Meaning and impact of famil satisfaction upon subjective quality of life: perce tions of fathers, mothers, and adoLscents. I n J. L. Hafstrorn (Ed.), Compendium oFguality of life research. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, Univer. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Pp. 57-70. SCHUMM,W. R., BUGAIGHIS, M. A,, UEUCFI, A. I?, & BOLLMAN, S. R. (1986) Example and explanation as predictors of a olescent compliance with parental instructions. Journal of Social Behaulor and Personality, 1, 465-470. E. E., BUGAIGHIS,M. A , , JURICH,A. I?, & BOLLMAN,S. R. SCHUMM,W. R , ~ICCOLLLIM, (1986) Characteristics of the Kansas Family Life Satisfaction Scale in a regional sample. Psychologrcal Reports, 58, 975-980. SCHUMM, W. R., M c C o u m , E. E., BUGAIGHIS,M. A,, JURICH,A. P, BOLLMAN, S. R., & REITZ,J. (1988) Differences between Anglo and Mexican American family members on satisfaction with family life. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 10, 39-53. SPSS, INC. (1990) SPSS reference guide. Chicago, IL: SPSS, Inc. THOMAS,D. L., GECAS,V., WEIGWT,A., & ROONEY,E. (1974) Family socialization and the adolescent. Lexington, K Y Heath.
d
Accepted May 18, 1992.
O Psychological Reports 1992
RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF T H E ADOLESCENT FAMILY LIFE SATISFACTION INDEX CAROLYN S. HENRY
DIANE L. OSTRANDER
Department of Family Relations and Child Development Oklahoma State Uniuersitj
Deparhnent of Human Development, Child and Family Studies South Dakota State Uniuersitj
SANDRA G. LOVELACE Plano, Texas Summary.-The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction Index. The self-report questionnaire was tested for internal consistency reliability. Tests for construct validity, concurrent validity, and internal consistency reliability provided support for the use of the over-all Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction Index, Parental Subscale, and Sibling Subscale for the measurement of adolescents' reports of satisfaction with family life.
The importance of satisfaction with family life as an element of over-all life satisfaction has been established for adults across the life cycle (Campbell, Converse, & Rodgers, 1976; Medley, 1980). Instruments have been developed to assess the over-all satisfaction of adults with family life (McCollum, Schumm, & Russell, 1988; Olson, McCubbin, Barnes, Larsen, Muxen, & Wilson, 1983) and satisfaction with specific dimensions of family life, especially marital relations (Glenn, 1990; Sabatelli, 1988), and to a lesser extent parenting experiences (Goetting, 1986). Research, however, has focused upon the satisfaction of adults with family life, with minimal empirical study of adolescents' satisfaction with family life. Traditional conceptualizations of adolescents' functioning in the family context have been based upon the premise that adolescence is a time of separating from families (Gecas & Seff, 1990). During the past decade, however, research has indicated that adolescents function most effectively in families that encourage a balance between separation and connectedness (Cooper, Grotevant, & Condon, 1984; Peterson & Leigh, 1990). Further, according to symbolic interactionist theory, adolescents may be expected to evaluate their family experiences positively when they perceive theit interactions with parents and siblings to encourage the development of social competence or the qualities necessary to function effectively in the broader society (Peterson,
'Support for this research was provided by the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station (Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station Manuscript No. 6124). An earlier version of this paper was presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual Meeting, Denver, C O (November, 1991). Address correspondence to Carolyn S. Henry, Ph.D., Department of Family Relations and Child Development, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-0337.
1224
C. S. HENRY, ETAL.
1986a, 1987; Peterson & Leigh, 1990; Peterson & Rollins, 1987). An important aspect of adolescents' social competence that relates to f a d y functioning is the ability to develop and maintain social relationships while demonstrating a sense of autonomy (Peterson & Leigh, 1990; Peterson & Rollins, 1987). As youth perceive their interactions with parents and siblings provide the opportunity to feel connected while exploring life beyond the family setting, they may be expected to define their family experiences in a positive manner. In turn, greater satisfaction with f a d y life is likely to be reported by adolescents who perceive their relations with parents and siblings provide a sense of autonomy and connectedness within the family context. The significance of adolescents' satisfaction with family life is highlighted by findings that adolescents' satisfaction with over-all family life and satisfaction in relationships with parents were positively related to perceptions of quality of life (Schumm, Bugaighis, Bollman, & Jurich, 1986; Schumm, McCollum, Bugaighis, Jurich, & Bollman, 1986). As part of a national survey of families, Olson, et al. (1983) assessed the extent to which family members, including adolescents, were satisfied with the level of cohesion and adaptability in their families. Since the focus of the Olson, et al. (1983) study was on family systems rather than adolescents, the measurement was limited to questions relating to both parents and adolescents. Thus, adolescents' satisfaction with their families as developmental contexts has not previously been empirically investigated. To address this deficiency, the purpose of this study was to develop and conduct a preliminary examination of an instrument designed to assess adolescents' satisfaction with their f a d e s while recognizing the sahence of both parents and siblings as key elements in the family context of adolescent development. Specifically, the internal consistency reliability and validity of the Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction Index, the Parental Subscale, and the Sibling Subscale were examined.
METHODAND RESULTS The subjects were a subsample of 427 students from four high schools in a southwestern state who were part of a larger study of adolescents and their families. After the initial screening of school systems based upon the socioeconomic variability in the communities, school officials (i.e., superintendents or principals) were contacted to schedule two visits to each school. The initial contact with subjects occurred in their English classes when research team members explained the purpose and procedures of the study. Students who chose to participate were asked to return consent forms signed by both the subjects and their parents. O n the second visit, the research team administered the self-report questionnaire during the subjects' English classes. From the initial group of 490 subjects completing the over-d project
ADOLESCENTS' SATISFACTION: FAMILY LIFE
1225
questionnaires, a subsample of 427 subjects who reported having at least one sibling were selected for the present study. Of the subsample, 42.6% (n = 182) were boys, 57.1% (n = 244) were girls, and .3% (n = 1) did not indicate gender. The mean age of the subjects was 16.1 yr.; range 13 to 19 years. The racial composition of the sample was 384 (89.9%) white, 20 (4.7%) Native American, 14 (3.3%) black, 3 (.7%) Hispanic, 1 (2%)Asian, and 5 (1.2%) who were other races or did not indicate race. Two hundred and fifty-eight (60.4%) lived with both parents, 96 (22.5%) lived in stepfarnilies, 43 (10%) lived with one parent, and 30 (7.1%) reported other living arrangements. The subjects indicated the number of siblings, including stepsiblings, ranged from 1 to 10, with a mean of 2.42. The Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction Index was developed by the first and third authors to assess the satisfaction of adolescents with aspects of family life. Specifically, the instrument measured the extent to which adolescents were satisfied with the ability of their families to provide a sense of connectedness while encouraging the development of autonomy in relationships with parents and siblings and in parents' relationships with each other. The instrument was composed of 13 items scored on a scale in Likert format (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree). The subjects were directed to respond to each statement based upon their feelings about the family members living in their homes, including stepfamily members. Both the parental and sibling subscales began with the statement "I am satisfied with" and contained statements with which to complete the sentence. Total scores were established by summing the responses to each of the 13 items. Three items on the scale were developed and used by Schumm and colleagues (Martin, Schumm, Bugaighis, Jurich, & Bollman, 1987; Schumm, Bugaighis, Bollman, & Jurich, 1986; Schumm, Bugaighis, Jurich, & Bollman, 1986; Schumm, McCollum, Bugaighis, Jurich, & Bollman, 1986; Schumm, McCollum, Bugaighis, Jurich, Bollman, & Reitz, 1988) as single-item measures of adolescents' satisfaction with dimensions of family life. These items asked adolescents to report satisfaction with (1) "my parents' relationship with each other," (2) "my over-all relationship with my parent(s)," and (3) "my over-all relationship(s) with my siblings." The other 10 items asked questions about the extent to which the subjects perceived their parents and siblings provided a family atmosphere that allowed a balance between comectedness and separation between the adolescent and family. These items were developed to assess concepts consistent with previous conceptualizations of adolescents' autonomy (Peterson, 1986b; Peterson & Stivers, 1986) and adolescents' conformity to their families' expectations (i.e., an indicator of family connectedness; Henry, Wilson, & Peterson, 1989; Peterson, Rollins, & Thomas, 1985; Thomas, Gecas, Weigert, & Rooney, 1974).
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C. S. HENRY, ETAL.
Three social scientists (external to the project) were asked to examine the extent to which the 13 items in the scale measured adolescents' satisfaction with family connectedness and the opportunity to develop autonomy and assessed the clarity and readability of the items (DeVellis, 1991). Next, the scale was administered to a sample of 23 high school students to allow further consideration of the readability and clarity of the items. These procedures resulted in minor revisions in the wording of items. Means, standard deviations, and ranges for each of the items are shown in Table 1. An initial over-all reliability estimate of the Index (alpha = .90; see Table 2) was established using the SPSS (SPSS, Inc., 1990) reliability analysis, Cronbach alpha (Cronbach, 1951). TABLE 1 MEANSAND STANDARD DEVIATIONSFOR THE ADOLESCENT FAMILY LIFT SATISFACTION INDEXITEMS (N = 427) --
Item Content
M
--
~
SD
I am satisfied with how much my parent(s) approve of me and the things I do the amount of freedom my parent(s) give me to make my own choices the ways my parent(s) want me to ttunk and act the amount of influence my parent(s) have over my actions the ways my parent(s) try to control my actions my parent(s) relationship with each other my over-all relationship with my parent(s) how much my brothers and/or sisters approve of me and the things I do the amount of freedom my brothers and/or sisters give me to make my own choices the ways my brothers and/or sisters want me to think and act the amount of influence my brothers and/or sisten have over my actions the ways my brothen and/or sisters try to control my actions my over-all relationship(s) with my brothers and/or sisters
The Bartlett Test of Sphericity, a test for appropriateness of the 13 by 13 correlation matrix for factor analysis (Bejar, 1978), was significant at the ,0001 level (see Table 2). Measures of the off-diagonal elements in the antiimage covariance matrix and the reproduced correlation, the residuals above the diagonal greater than .05 (Norusis, 1988) and the Kaiser-Meyer-Ollun Measure of Sampling Adequacy (see Table 2; Kaiser, 1970) indicated the data were appropriate for principal components factoring. Construct vabdity for the Index was established, using SPSS principal components factoring followed by varimax rotation (SPSS, Inc., 1990), a procedure used in the exploratory testing of scales (Jackson & Chan, 1980; Kim & Mueller, 1978). As predicted, the principal components factoring yielded two subscales, the Parental Subscale and the Sibling Subscale (see Table 2). The amount of variance in adolescents' family life satisfaction accounted for
ADOLESCENTS' SATISFACTION: FAMILY LIFE TABLE 2
PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS FACTOPJNG FOLLOWED BY VARIMAXROTATION FORTHE ADOLESCENTFAMILY LIFE SATLSFACTION INDEX Item Content
Parental Factor
Sibling Factor
.80 .80 .76
.19 .18 .25
.72 .67 .66 .15
.09 .09 .25 .85
.15
.83
I am satisfied with how much my parent(s) approve of me and the things I do the amount of influence my parent(s) have over my actions my over-all relationship with my parent(s) want me to think and act the ways , rnv . parent(s) the amount of freedom my parent(~)give me to make my own choices my parent(s) relationship with each other the ways my parent(s) try to control my actions the ways my brothers and/or sisters want me to think and act the amount of influence my brothers and/or sisters have over my actions how much my brothers and/or sisters approve of me and the things I do the amount of freedom my brothers and/or sisters give me to make my own choices the ways my brothers and/or sisters try to control my actions my over-a!J relationshp(s) with my brothers and/or sisters Eigenvalue % of Variance Cumulative Percent Cronbach's alpha
Note.-Kaiser-Meyet-Okn Measure of Sampling Adequacy = .90; Bartlett Test of Sphericity = 3032.63, p.09 = 26 (16.7%); Residuals Above Diagonal>0.05 = 32 (41%); Cronbach's alpha for the over-all Index = .90.
by each subscale and the individual item factor loadings are reported in Table 2. As also indicated in Table 2, each item loaded in excess of .63 on one of the two subscales ("very good" factor loadings; Comrey, 1973), thus, all items were retained in the final scale. The respective internal consistency reliability coefficients for the Parental and Sibling Subscales were .88 and .89 (see Table 2). Concurrent validity was established based on the Pearson correlations among the Index, the Parental Subscale, and the Sibling Subscale, and the Family Satisfaction Scale (Olson & Wilson, 1982). The internal consistency reliabibty coefficient (Cronbach's alpha) for the Family Satisfaction Scale using this sample was .93. The over-all Index, the Parental Subscale, and the Sibling Subscale were significantly and positively correlated ( p 1 . 0 1 ) with the Family Satisfaction Scale: .72 for the over-all Index, .78 for the Parental Subscale, and .43 for the Sibling Subscale. This preliminary evaluation of the Adolescent Farmly Life Satisfaction
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C. S. HENRY, E T A L .
Index supports the reliability and validity of the instrument. Specifically, the over-all Index, the Parental Subscale, and the Sibling Subscale showed h g h internal consistency reliabhty. Principal components factoring followed by varimax rotation supported the construct validity of the Index by indicating the scale consistently measured the two predicted underlying constructs of adolescents' satisfaction in relations with parents and in relations with siblings. Concurrent validity was estimated in relation to the F a d y Satisfaction Scale (Olson & Wilson, 1982). The factor loadings and Cronbach alphas indicate the 13-item instrument is appropriate for use in research. Further research with the Index and subscales with other samples is needed. For example, the limited range of racial backgrounds and geographic location of these subjects requires additional studies to validate the Index and subscales for other samples. In summary, the initial testing of the Adolescent Family Life Satisfaction Index shows it to be useful for measuring adolescents' satisfaction with family life. REFERENCES BEJAR,I. I. (1978) Comment on Duziban and Shhkey's decision rules for factor analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 325-326. CAMPBELL, A,, CONVERSE, P E., & RODGERS,W. L. (1976) The quality of American life. New York: Russell Sage Found. COMREY,A. L. (1973) Afirst course infactor analysis. New York: Academic Press. COOPER,C., GROTEVANT, H . , & CONDON, S. (1984) Individuality and connectedness in the f a d y as a context for adolescent identity formation and role-taking skill. In H. Grotevant & C. Cooper (Eds.), New directions for child development: adolescent development in the family. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Pp. 43-60. CRONBACH, L. J. (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297-334. DEVELLIS,R. F. (1991) Scale development: theory and applications. Newbury Park,CA: Sage. GECAS,V., & SEFF, M. A. (1990) Families and adolescents: a review of the 1980s. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 941-958. GLENN,N. D. (1990) Quantitative research on marital quality in the 1980s. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 818-831. G O E ~ GA., (1986) Parental satisfaction: a review of research. Journal of Family Issues, 7, 83-109. HENRY,C. S., WILSON,S. M., & PETERSON, G . W. (1989) Parental power bases and processes as predictors of adolescent confornuty. Journal of Adolescent Research, 4, 15-32. JACKSON,D. N., & CHAN,D. W. (1980) Maximum-likelihood estimation in common factor analysis: a cautionary note. Prychological Bulletin, 88, 502-508. KAISER,H. F, (1970) A second generation little jiffy. Psychometrika, 35, 401-416. KIM, J. O., & MUELLER,C. W. (1978) Introduction to factor analysis: what it is and how to do it. Beverly HiUs, CA: Sage. MARTIN, M. ., SCHUMM,\Y! R., BUGAIGHIS, M. A., JURICH, A. P., & BOLLMAN,S. R. (1987) Fa ' y violence and adolescents' perceptions of outcomes of family conflict. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49, 165-171. MCCOLLUM,E. E., SCHUMM,W. R., & RUSSELL,C. S. (1988) Reliability and validity of the Kansas Family Life Satisfaction Scale in a predominantly middle-aged sample. Psychological Reports, 62, 95-98. MEDLEY,M. L. (1980) Life satisfaction across four stages of adult life. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 11, 193-209. NORUSIS,M. J. (1988) SPSY aduanced statistics guide. (2nd ed.) Chicago, IL: SPSS, Inc.
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OLSON,D. H., M c C m ~ m H. , I., BARNES,H., LARSEN,A,, MUXEN,M., & WILSON,M. (1983) Families: what makes them work. Beverly Ws, CA: Sage. OLSON,D. H., & WILSON,M. (1982) Family satisfaction. In D. H. Olson, H. I. McCubbin, H. Barnes, A. Larsen, M. Muxen, & M. Wilson (Eds.), Family inventories: inventories used in a national survey of families across the family life qcle. St. Paul, MN: Department of Family Social Science, Univer. of Minnesota. Pp. 25-31. PETERSON, G . W. (1986a) Family conceptual frameworks and adolescent development. In G . K. Leigh & G . W. Peterson (Eds.), Adolescents in families. Cincinnati, O H : SouthWestern. Pp. 12-35. PETERSON, G . W. (1986b) Parent-youth power dimensions and the behavioral autonomy of adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 1, 231-249. PETERSON, G . W. (1987) Role transitions and role identities during adolescence: a symbolic interactionist view. Journal of Adolescent Research, 2, 237-254. PETERSON, G . W., & LEIGH,G . K. (1990) The family and social competence in adolescence. In T. P. Gullota, G . R. Adams, & R. Montemayor (Eds.), Advances in adolescent development: social competence. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Pp. 97-183. PETERSON, G . W., & ROLLINS,B. C. (1987) Parent-child socialization as symbolic interaction. In M. B. Sussman & S. K. Steinmetz (Eds.), Handbook of marriage and thefamily. New York: Plenum. Pp. 471-508. PETERSON, G . W., ROLLINS,B. C., & THOMAS,D. L. (1985) Parental influence and adolescent conformity: compliance and internalization. Youth and Society, 16, 397-420. PETERSON,G. W., & STIVERS,M. E. (1986) Adolescent behavioral autonomy and family connectedness in rural Appalachia. Family Perspective, 20, 307-322. SABATELLI, R. M. (1988) Measuement issues in marital research: a review and critique of contemporary survey instruments. Journal ofMarriage and the Family, 50, 891-915. SCHUMM,W. R., BUGAIGHIS, M. A,, BOLLMAN, S. R., & JURICH,A. P (1986) Meaning and impact of famil satisfaction upon subjective quality of life: perce tions of fathers, mothers, and adoLscents. I n J. L. Hafstrorn (Ed.), Compendium oFguality of life research. Urbana-Champaign, IL: Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, Univer. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Pp. 57-70. SCHUMM,W. R., BUGAIGHIS, M. A,, UEUCFI, A. I?, & BOLLMAN, S. R. (1986) Example and explanation as predictors of a olescent compliance with parental instructions. Journal of Social Behaulor and Personality, 1, 465-470. E. E., BUGAIGHIS,M. A , , JURICH,A. I?, & BOLLMAN,S. R. SCHUMM,W. R , ~ICCOLLLIM, (1986) Characteristics of the Kansas Family Life Satisfaction Scale in a regional sample. Psychologrcal Reports, 58, 975-980. SCHUMM, W. R., M c C o u m , E. E., BUGAIGHIS,M. A,, JURICH,A. P, BOLLMAN, S. R., & REITZ,J. (1988) Differences between Anglo and Mexican American family members on satisfaction with family life. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 10, 39-53. SPSS, INC. (1990) SPSS reference guide. Chicago, IL: SPSS, Inc. THOMAS,D. L., GECAS,V., WEIGWT,A., & ROONEY,E. (1974) Family socialization and the adolescent. Lexington, K Y Heath.
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Accepted May 18, 1992.
