Assessment of Filial, Parental, Marital, and Collective Family Efficacy Beliefs

Summary: This study examines the psychometric properties of four scales designed to assess efficacy beliefs that family members hold about their role as spouse, parent, and child, as well as about the functioning of family as a holistic system. The sample includes about 600 parents and about 1000 adolescents. Psychometric properties of the scales are examined by means of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses as well as internal coherence coefficients. Validity was examined by means of correlations with indicators of open communication, parental monitoring, aggressive management of conflict, and family satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analysis corroborates the internal reliability of the scales and their distinctiveness. Although correlated, efficacy beliefs that family members hold regarding their capacity to meet the different roles within the family and involved in the functioning of family as a whole system are not reducible to a single dimension. The family efficacy scales provide theoretically rooted tools for studying family processes and functioning as they occur under naturalistic conditions and as a result of therapeutic interventions.