The Development of a Family Cohesion Scale: A Preliminary Validation

Abstract

Family is said to be an important agent for the socio-emotional development and growth of an individual. The existing research findsoutthemanifestation andexpressionof family cohesion among adolescents in the Pakistani cultural context. In phase I, a phenomenological approach was used to elicit the key characteristics of family cohesion from 30 adolescentsfollowed by phaseII, the establishment of content validity index, and phase III of pilot testing on 20 participants to check comprehension of the scale. In the last phase,785 adolescents (Girls = 49%; Boys = 51%) were selected to determine the psychometric properties of the FamilyCohesion Scale(FCS). Factor analysis yieldedfour factors of family cohesionnamely mutual support, sharing, parental involvement,and emotionalbonding. Furthermore, results also depictedhigh internal consistency, test-retest reliability, split-half reliability, and construct validity. The factors offamily cohesion arediscussed by consideringthe collectivistic cultural context of Pakistan.