The Family Assessment Measure III (FAM III) in an Italian sample
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The Family Assessment Measure III
(FAM III) in an Italian sample
An exploratory study
Loredana Laghezza, Elisa Delvecchio, Chiara Pazzagli, Claudia Mazzeschi
Department of Human Science and Education, University of Perugia
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ABSTRACT
.
Il
Family Assessment Measure
(
FAM-III
; Skinner, Steinhauer & Santa-Barbara, 1995) è uno degli
strumenti maggiormente impiegati, a livello internazionale, nell’ambito dell’assessment familiare. Sono assenti
ricerche in Italia che ne supportino il suo impiego, pertanto obiettivo principale di questo studio pilota è stato quello di
esplorare l’uso del FAM-III nel contesto italiano con un campione di 1572 genitori. Lo strumento si è dimostrato
essere una misura valida e fedele per la valutazione del funzionamento familiare nei diversi momenti del ciclo di vita.
Versione integrale in lingua italiana su
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ABSTRACT. The Family Assessment Measure III (FAM III; Skinner, Steinhauer & Santa-Barbara, 1995) is one of the
most widely used family assessment tool at the international level. However, research supporting its use in the Italian
context is lacking. In order to help to fill this gap, the main aim of this pilot study was to explore the use of FAM III in the
Italian context. The questionnaire was administered to an Italian community sample of 1572 parents together with the
Parenting Stress Index (PSI-SF; Abidin, 1995), as a measure of parental stress. Confirmatory Factor Analyses were carried
out. The 7-factor model showed the best fit. Internal consistency of FAM III showed acceptable values. Analysis of variance
showed significant differences for age cohorts, few differences for parental role, and no effect for child’s gender. The data
collected for the Italian sample were compared with available data for the American sample showing few differences.
Convergent validity was assessed investigating relationships between the FAM III and PSI-SF. Correlations revealed a good
association between quality of family functioning and parenting stress as referred by parents. The FAM III appears to be a
reliable tool for assessing Italian family functioning in different moments of the family cycle of life.
Keywords:
family, stress, assessment’s instruments, Italian population
INTRODUCTION
The need for tools to assess family functioning is well
established, and is considered important by those who work
daily with children and families and need to assess their
strengths and weaknesses (Alderfer et al., 2008). In the clinical
setting, family assessment tools have been devised and used
to face the challenge of assessing not only the referred child,
but also the family functioning, that is, the child’s family
system and its individual members (Gan & Schuller, 2002).
The family is complex
per sé,
with various definitions coming
from different family system theories (Lis, Mazzeschi, Salcuni
& Di Riso, 2008). The families are organized systems that aim
to maintain balance and order through communication and
assigned roles (Kazak, Rourke & Crump, 2003). As systems,
they have to accommodate developmental changes such as
those elicited by the child’s growth. The parental subsystem is
also challenged according to the age of the sibling and family
functioning may be different at the various ages of the child.
These different developmental moments of transition in the
