Testing the Validity of an Instrument for Assessing Family of Origin History

Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Publication Date

11-1998

Publisher

Wiley

Source Publication

Journal of Clinical Psychology

Source ISSN

0021-9762

Abstract

Family of origin history information is often gathered for research and clinical purposes in psychology, but there has been relatively little examination of the validity of the data obtained. This report describes several tests of the validity of the recently developed Family Background Questionnaire, a relatively behaviorally specific instrument designed to comprehensively assess characteristics of one's family of origin. Using a sample of 678 nonclinical and clinical participants, it was found that a history of incest, parental chemical dependency, clinical status, socioeconomic status, and birth order all predicted Family Background Questionnaire scores as hypothesized and that 38% of the variance in Total Scale scores was accounted for by these variables.

Comments

Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol. 54, No. 7 (November 1998): 863-875. DOI.

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