Self-Report Family Inventory
Beavers, W. R., Hampson, R. and Hulgus, Y.
1990
Description of Measure
Purpose
To assess an individual's perception of his/her family’s functioning.
Conceptual Organization
The Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI) includes 36 items assessing 5 areas: Family
Health/Competence, Conflict, Cohesion, Expressiveness, and Directive Leadership.
Item Origin/Selection Process
This instrument is the self-report adaptation of the Beavers Model of Family Functioning
(Beavers et al., 1985).
Materials
Forms are available from the publisher.
Time Required
5-10 minutes
Administration Method
Interviewer-administered
Training
None
Scoring
Score Types
Respondents are asked to rate each statement (e.g., We all have a say in household plans)
on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (fits our household very well) to 5 (doesn't fit our household at
all).
rev. 4/03
422
Summary scores and mean scale scores for each of the five subscales can be obtained as
follows: (An “R” refers to an item score that must be reversed prior to summing).
•
Health/Competence: Items 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18R, 19R, 20, 21, 24R, 25R,
27R, 28, 33, 35, and 36
•
Conflict: Items 5R, 6, 7, 8R, 10R, 14R, 18R, 24R, 25R, 30R, 31R, and 34
•
Cohesion: Items 2, 15, 19R, 27R, and 36
•
Expressiveness: Items 1, 9, 13R, 20, and 22
•
Leadership: Items 8R, 16, and 32
Score Interpretation
Lower scores represent greater competence on all SFI scales.
Norms and/or Comparative Data
Normative data for competent non-clinic families, less competent non-clinic families, and
clinic families are available in the manual (Beavers et al., 1990).
Psychometric Support
Reliability
Beavers et al. (1985) reported that the alpha reliability coefficients for the entire scale
ranging from .84 to .88. Test-retest reliability coefficients (for 30 to 90 days) ranged from .84 to
.87 for Family Health/Competence, .50 to .59 for Conflict, .50 to .70 for Cohesion, .79 to .89 for
Expressiveness, and .41 to .49 for Directive Leadership (Beavers et al., 1990).
Validity
Convergent and concurrent validity have been demonstrated through comparisons to
other assessments of family functioning, such as FACES II and FACES III (Hampson, Hulgus,
& Beavers, 1991), the McMaster Family Assessment Device (Epstein, Baldwin, & Bishop,
1983), and the Beavers Interactional Scales (Beavers, Hampson, & Hulgus, 1985).
rev. 4/03
423
LONGSCAN Use
Data Points
Age 6, 8, 12
Respondent
Primary maternal caregiver
Mnemonic and Version
Age 6: SFIA.
Age 8: SFA. The form is identical to Age 6.
Age 12: SFIB/C. The form is identical to Age 6 and Age 8; only the layout differs: B is
the paper form and C is the audio-CASI version.
Administration and Scoring Notes
To better reflect LONGSCAN populations and family situations, the word "household"
was substituted for "family" throughout the questionnaire.
Rationale
Prior to joining the LONGSCAN consortium, the EA site administered the SFI and found
that Competence, Conflict, Cohesion, and Expression were positively correlated with depression,
anxiety, hostility, parenting stress, child related stress, and negative life events; and negatively
correlated with support. Internal consistency for scale scores was acceptable for Health/
Competence (α = .89), Conflict (α = .84), Cohesion (α = .64), and Expressiveness (α = .71), but
poor for Leadership (α = .17) in low-income families. Scores in all areas were stable over time
(approximately one year) with no significant shifts (Black, 1992).
Results
Tables 1 and 2 list the mean scale scores on the SFI by caregiver’s race and study site,
based on responses obtained in the Age 6 and Age 8 interviews. Compared to scores reported by
Beavers et al. (1990) LONGSCAN families are scoring well within the competent range on all
scales at both the time points. However, the standard deviations of the LONGSCAN data are
much larger than those reported for competent families in Beavers’ sample suggesting that there
rev. 4/03
424
may be more variability in, or a wider range of, the scores of the LONGSCAN families. Mean
scale scores remain stable between the Age 6 and Age 8 interviews.
Table 1 about here
Table 2 about here
Reliability
Tables 3 and 4 display the alpha coefficients for the SFI by caregiver race and study site
at the Age 6 and Age 8 interviews. Like Beavers et all (1985) we found strong internal
consistency within the scale describing overall family health and competence. At Age 6 the
alphas for the Conflict, Cohesion, and Expressiveness scales were moderate, ranging from .62 to
.71, while the alpha for the 3-item Leadership scale demonstrated poor internal consistency (α =
.16). At Age 8 the alpha coefficient for Cohesion decreases slightly while the alphas for the other
two scales remain essentially unchanged. The internal consistency for the Leadership scale
remains poor (α = .17). Lower internal consistency relative to other racial groups was also found
for Black and Hispanic families on the Cohesion scale and Black and Multiracial families on the
Expressiveness scales at the Age 6 interview.
Table 3 about here
At the Age 8 interview the reliability of the Conflict and Expressiveness scales increases
to the moderate range for the Multiracial participants. Hispanic and Black families continue to
show lower internal consistency reliability relative other racial groups on Cohesion, as do
families at the EA site.
Table 4
Publisher Information
Southwest Family Institute
12523 Nuestra Drive
Dallas, Texas 75230-1718
rev. 4/03
425
References and Bibliography
Beavers, W. R., Hampson, R. B., & Hulgus, Y. F. (1985). The Beavers approach to
family assessment. Family Process, 24, 398-405.
Beavers, W. R., Hampson, R. B., & Hulgus, Y. F. (1990). Beavers Systems Model
Manual: 1990 Edition. Dallas, TX: Southwest Family Institute.
Black, M. (1992). [The growth and development project.] Unpublished raw data.
Epstein, N. B., Baldwin, L. M., Bishop, D. S. (1983). The McMaster Family Assessment
Device. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 9(2), 171-180.
Hampson, R. B., Hulgus, Y. F., & Beavers, W. R. (1991). Comparisons of self-report
measures of the Beavers System Model and Olsons Circumplex Model. Journal of Family
Psychology, 4(3), 326-340.
rev. 4/03
426
Table 1. Mean Scores on the SFI Subscales by Caregiver Race and Study Site. Age 6
Interview
N
1215
Health/
Competence
M (SD)
1.87 (0.62)
Conflict
M (SD)
1.71 (0.64)
Cohesion
M (SD)
2.16 (0.73)
Expressiveness
M (SD)
1.79 (0.75)
Total
Race
White
394
1.96 (0.61)
1.75 (0.63)
2.27 (0.70)
1.75
Black
660
1.85 (0.62)
1.70 (0.65)
2.14 (0.75)
1.85
Hispanic
91
1.70 (0.57)
1.67 (0.64)
1.95 (0.64)
1.62
Multiracial
34
1.80 (0.52)
1.62 (0.46)
2.15 (0.78)
1.73
Other
30
1.70 (0.82)
1.58 (0.73)
1.97 (0.90)
1.53
Site
EA
252
1.86 (0.64)
1.74 (0.68)
2.12 (0.74)
1.81
MW
214
1.87 (0.59)
1.72 (0.61)
2.12 (0.72)
1.90
SO
220
1.91 (0.68)
1.72 (0.71)
2.21 (0.78)
1.77
SW
295
1.76 (0.56)
1.62 (0.58)
2.07 (0.71)
1.68
NW
234
1.97 (0.62)
1.75 (0.62)
2.28 (0.71)
1.80
Source. Based on data received at the LONGSCAN Coordinating Center through 8/24/01.
rev. 4/03
427
Leadership
M (SD)
1.99 (0.78)
(0.74)
(0.78)
(0.68)
(0.56)
(0.78)
2.16
1.90
2.04
2.03
1.76
(0.76)
(0.81)
(0.68)
(0.63)
(0.64)
(0.77)
(0.76)
(0.80)
(0.69)
(0.76)
2.01
2.07
1.99
1.92
1.99
(0.83)
(0.70)
(0.86)
(0.72)
(0.81)
Table 2. Mean Scores on the SFI Subscales by Caregiver Race and Study Site. Age 8
Interview
N
1033
Health/
Competence
M (SD)
1.88 (0.60)
Conflict
M (SD)
1.68 (0.61)
Cohesion
M (SD)
2.20 (0.66)
Expressiveness
M (SD)
1.84 (0.75)
Total
Race
White
282
1.96 (0.58)
1.76 (0.59)
2.29 (0.63)
1.81
Black
416
1.86 (0.60)
1.65 (0.61)
2.18 (0.68)
1.88
Hispanic
47
1.81 (0.52)
1.66 (0.60)
2.13 (0.59)
1.70
Multiracial
24
1.94 (0.60)
1.89 (0.64)
2.19 (0.71)
1.92
Other
17
1.86 (0.79)
1.81 (0.80)
2.25 (1.03)
1.71
Site
EA
235
1.84 (0.64)
1.65 (0.62)
2.16 (0.70)
1.85
MW
124
1.91 (0.60)
1.77 (0.67)
2.17 (0.66)
1.94
SO
184
1.84 (0.57)
1.60 (0.57)
2.17 (0.65)
1.81
SW
269
1.84 (0.54)
1.65 (0.56)
2.18 (0.63)
1.78
NW
221
1.97 (0.63)
1.76 (0.63)
2.32 (0.67)
1.85
Source. Based on data received at the LONGSCAN Coordinating Center through 8/24/01.
rev. 4/03
428
Leadership
M (SD)
2.02 (0.75)
(0.72)
(0.77)
(0.79)
(0.65)
(0.75)
2.17
1.96
2.06
2.19
1.82
(0.68)
(0.82)
(0.69)
(0.82)
(0.46)
(0.80)
(0.76)
(0.73)
(0.70)
(0.76)
1.98
2.13
1.96
2.03
2.05
(0.81)
(0.70)
(0.81)
(0.68)
(0.74)
Table 3. Alpha Coefficients for SFI Subscales by Caregiver Race and Study Site. Age 6
Interview
Health/
Competence
α
.88
Conflict
α
.69
Cohesion
α
.61
Expressiveness
α
.70
Total
Race
White
.89
.73
.68
.79
Black
.86
.67
.57
.67
Hispanic
.88
.67
.51
.66
Multiracial
.84
.38
.67
.48
Other
.96
.83
.84
.85
Site
EA
.87
.67
.56
.69
MW
.87
.65
.60
.66
SO
.89
.74
.63
.77
SW
.87
.66
.63
.68
NW
.89
.71
.65
.74
Source. Based on data received at the LONGSCAN Coordinating Center through 8/24/01.
rev. 4/03
429
Leadership
α
.15
.15
.19
-.25
-.10
-.39
.21
-.12
.26
.02
.30
Table 4. Alpha Coefficients for SFI Subscales by Caregiver Race and Study Site. Age 8
Interview
Health/
Competence
α
.87
Conflict
α
.69
Cohesion
α
.55
Expressiveness
α
.69
Total
Race
White
.89
.68
.64
.76
Black
.86
.67
.48
.64
Hispanic
.80
.65
.26
.80
Multiracial
.87
.65
.66
.62
Other
.93
.81
.86
.67
Site
EA
.88
.63
.48
.67
MW
.84
.70
.41
.60
SO
.87
.70
.59
.71
SW
.86
.69
.56
.68
NW
.90
.73
.65
.76
Source. Based on data received at the LONGSCAN Coordinating Center through 8/24/01.
rev. 4/03
430
Leadership
α
.14
.04
.26
-.14
.27
-2.25
.27
-.16
.29
.04
.10