Factor Structure of the Family Environment Scale: Factors Based on Items and Subscales

Abstract

The factor structure of the Family Environment Scale (FES; Moos, Insel, and Humphrey, 1974) was examined in a large heterogeneous urban sample of adolescents (N = 922) in two studies at two levels of analysis. Study 1 examined the subscale structure of the FES using individual items as the unit of analysis. Study 2 examined the superordinate dimensions of the FES using the subscales originally designed by Moos et al. as the unit of analysis. The 8-factor solution found to be most appropriate in Study 1 clearly resembled both the solution found by the only prior investigators to analyze an adolescent sample (Robertson and Hyude, 1982) and the subscales originally devised by Moos et al. This consistency needs to be qualified, however, by the inability of the solution to summarize subjects' responses satisfactorily, which suggests further research on the instrument would be helpful. Study 2 generally replicated two large factors found by other investigators, Cohesion vs. Conflict and Organization-Control.

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