Revision,reliability and validity evaluation of Self-Rating Scale of Systemic Family Dynamics-students testing version

Objective To revise Self-Rating Scale of Systemic Family Dynamics(SSFD)-students testing version and to evaluate reliability and validity of the SSFD revised.Methods The theoretical structure of original SSFD was revised based on personality traits of adolescents.Using multi-stage stratified cluster sampling,5 188 high school and college students in Shaanxi province were tested with revised SSFD to assess the reliability and validity of the scale with item analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.Results Compared to the original version,the revised SSFD exhibits better item discrimination;the correlation coefficients of family atmosphere,individuation,system logic,and disease concept with the total score of the scale were 0.73,0.72,0.55,and 0.70 and the correlation coefficients of every item with its domain were all greater than 0.4(all P<0.01).The Cronbach's α coefficient and the split-half reliability of the whole scale were 0.81 and 0.67,respectively.The Cronbach's α coefficients for the four domains ranged from 0.65 to 0.75,and those of split-half reliability ranged from 0.42 to 0.63.The results of exploratory factor analysis demonstrated the cumulative variance contribution rate of 4 common factors of the revised SSFD was 42.80%; criterion validity test results showed that scores of family atmosphere,individuation,system logic,disease concepts,and overall well-being were 32.55±15.71,37.02±17.32,57.14±17.50,51.69±15.82,and 77.25±24.89,respectively.The scores of the four domains and the overall well-being score were positively correlated(r=0.40,0.32,0.16,and 0.20;all P<0.01).There were significant differences in the scores of the four domains among the students of different genders,with various education level,average monthly household income,household type,and family size(all P<0.05),indicating that the revised SSFD has good discriminating validity.Conclusion The reliability and validity of the revised SSFD-students test version meet psychometric requirement and could be used as an efficient tool for systemic family dynamics research among students.