THE FAMILY ATTITUDE SCALE - RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF A NEW SCALE FOR MEASURING THE EMOTIONAL CLIMATE OF FAMILIES

Research on outcomes from psychiatric disorders has highlighted the im portance of expressed emotion (EE), but its cost-effective measurement remains a challenge. This article describes development of the Family Attitude Scale (FAS), a 30-item instrument that can be completed by a ny informant. Its psychometric characteristics are reported in parents of undergraduate students and in 70 families with a schizophrenic mem ber. The total FAS had high internal consistency in all samples, and r eports of angry behaviour in FAS items showed acceptable inter-rater a greement. The FAS was associated with the reported anger, anger expres sion and anxiety of respondents. Substantial associations between the parents' FAS and the anger and anger expression of students was also o bserved. Parents of schizophrenic patients had higher FAS scores than parents of students, and the FAS was higher if disorder duration was l onger or patient functioning was poorer. Hostility, high criticism and low warmth on the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI) were associated w ith a more negative FAS. The highest FAS in the family was a good pred ictor of a highly critical environment on the CFI. The FAS is a reliab le and valid indicator of relationship stress and expressed anger that has wide applicability. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.