Validity issues with the Family Environment Scale: Psychometric resolution and research application with alcoholic families.

Data from both mothers and fathers from 319 families were used to investigate the internal psychometric properties, convergent validity, and clinical research utility of the Family Environment Scale (FES). Scales were validated against 16 self-report variables and 7 observational variables. Clinical research utility was investigated by comparing antisocial alcoholic (AAL) families, non-anti-social alcoholic (NAAL) families, and nonalcoholic control families. Results identify 6 FES scales that fit a confirmatory factor analysis model well and that demonstrated good convergent validity. AAL families differed from NAAL families on 5 of these scales. Findings caution against the use of 4 FES scales, provide significant support for the internal psychometric properties and convergent validity of 6 FES scales, and demonstrate the research utility of these scales for addressing research on alcoholic families.