Factor Structures of the Family Environment Scale (Amharic Version)

Abstract

Based on the fact that the family is a primary social institution which impacts the
development of various outcomes in its members and that the starting point for improving
family environment (FE) is availing a psychometrically sound tool that assesses this
environment, the present study sought to examine the 90 items Form R FES in the Ethiopian
context. At the outset, FES items were translated to the working language of Ethiopia (i.e.,
Amharic) by a team of experts. Then, the content and context relevance of the items were
evaluated by 8 experts. The items were further examined in a pilot study by gathering data
from a sample of 159 (77 male and 82 female) adolescents attending one government and
one private secondary school in Addis Ababa City. Lawshe’s procedures of examining
content validity and reliability analysis using Cronbach were used to analyze the data.
Depending on the results, 19 of the FES items were dropped, the other items were
improved, and eventually, 71 better quality items were made ready for the main study. The
main study was conducted on 477 adolescents (214 males and 255 females, 8 missing cases)
attending two government and one private secondary schools in Addis Ababa City.
Descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor
Analysis (CFA) were used to analyze the data. Although further efforts are needed to
improve the psychometric qualities of the FES items in the Ethiopian context, 64 of the 90
items were found to be promising to assess the 10 subscales of the FES. Implications of the
findings are discussed.