The nuclear family functioning scale: Initial development and preliminary validation

Abstract

Bowen Theory's concept, nuclear family emotional process, describes how a couple's undifferentiation and anxiety manifest in marital distance and/or conflict, reciprocal functioning in the spouses, and/or child focus. The Nuclear Family Functioning Scale (NFFS) operationalized the symptomatic outcomes of these three mechanisms into three subscales for the overall measure of nuclear family functioning. Three steps were taken in the development of the questionnaire: (a) screening and selection of questions for the instrument, (b) development of scoring procedures, and (c) testing the instrument for reliability and validity. Preliminary support was demonstrated for the reliability and validity of the scale. As part of a longitudinal study the questionnaire was administered annually to a sample of one hundred two individuals or fifty-one couples over five years.