Construct validity and internal reliability of a French version of FACES III in adolescents and adults

Family cohesion and adaptability, as operationalised in the Family Adaptabi lity and Cohesion Scales III (FACES III), are two hypothesised dimensions o f family functioning. We tested the properties of a French version of FACES III in school-children (mean age: 13 years; S.D:0.85) recruited from the g eneral population and their parents. Separate confirmatory factor analyses were performed for adolescents and adults. The results of both analyses wer e compatible with a two-factor structure similar to that proposed by the au thors of the original instrument. However, orthogonality between the two fa ctors was only supported in the adult data. Internal reliability estimates were 0.78 and 0.68 in adolescents and 0.82 and 0.65 in adults, for cohesion and adaptability respectively.