Family functioning variables in nonclinical and "healthy" groups: a comparison of intact families

Abstract

The purpose of this research project was three-fold: to assess differences on family functioning scores among a "healthy" sample and a nonclinical group; to explore subscale differences in regard to family communication, family activities, frequency of disagreements and marital satisfaction; and, to examine differences in correlations between family functioning variables across the two groups.

The <i>Family Functioning Index</i> (Pless and Satterwhite, 1973) was administered in the form of a Family Life Questionnaire and completed by 96 "healthy" families and 53 nonclinical families from various counties in Northern Virginia. Seven hypotheses were tested. A series of t-tests were computed at the .05 level of significance in order to assess subscale and total score differences. Pearson-r correlations and Fisher's z-transformations were conducted at the .05 level to determine differences, if any, in correlations across the two groups.

The results indicated that family communication, family activities, and frequency of disagreements did not distinguish between the "healthy" and nonclinical families. In addition, no significant difference was I found on total family functioning scores between the two groups. However, the "healthy" families did score significantly higher on the marital satisfaction subscale implying that happiness in marriage may be an indicator of family “health”.