Validation of the Amharic Version of the Father-Adolescent Conflict Scale with School Adolescent Sample in Addis Ababa

Abstract

Child-parent conflict is a pervasive developmental concern that occurs during
adolescent transition to adulthood. However, assessment tools that help diagnosing
the nature of this conflict are unavailable in the Ethiopian setting. The purpose of this
study was, therefore, to establish the psychometric qualities of the adolescent version
of Conflict Behavior Questionnaire- Father Adolescent Conflict Scale-(CBQ-FAC 20)
using ‘Aggression Questionnaire’ (BPAQ-12) as an anchor variable. 225 participants
(123 girls and 102 boys), aged 14 to 16 years, were sampled using stratified random
sampling from Grades 8 through 10 in one school (Nejashi Academy) in Addis Ababa.
The Amharic translation of these tools was used for validation. Analysis of data revealed
that CBQ-FAC 20 had a Cronbach’s alpha value of .804. Furthermore, a principal
component analysis with oblique rotation yielded two factor structures for FAC scale.
The construct validity of FAC scale with the Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ-12)
was also strong. Finally, FAC scale showed measurement invariance (equivalence) by
gender. Hence, CBQ-FAC 20 has sound psychometric properties and, therefore, can
be used to assess parent-adolescent conflict and negative communication behaviors in
Amharic language speaker urban adolescent family settings.