The Family Environment Scale (FES) is a self-report instrument developed by Rudolf Moos and colleagues in 1974 to assess the social climates of the families. It focuses on the measurement. Princeton University Library One Washington Road Princeton, NJ USA (609) 258-1470.

Features of the FES

Purpose: Evaluates the social environment of the family unit

Length: 90 items

Average completion time: 15-20 minutes

Target population: Ages 11 and older, reading level 6th grade and up

Administration: For individual or group administration

Uses of the FES

Provides many family counseling applications
Examining the contrast between parent and child perceptions
Formulating clinical case descriptions
Identifying important issues in family treatment
Teaching clinicians about the dynamics of family systems
Assessing family strengths and problems

Scales
The ninety items of the FES are grouped into ten subscales with three dimensions. Note that entire subscales may be removed to shorten the instrument without affecting validity or reliability.

Family Relationship Index:
Three subscales tap the degree of commitment and support family members provide for one another, the extent to family members are encouraged to express their feelings directly, and the amount of openly expressed anger and conflict among family members.

Cohesion

Expressiveness

Conflict

Personal Growth:

Independence: assesses the extent to which family members are assertive, self-sufficient and make their own decisions

Achievement Orientation: reflects how much activities (such as school and work) are cast into an achievement-oriented or competitive framework,/p>

Intellectual-Cultural Orientation: measures the level of intereset in political, intellectual, and cultural activities

Active-Recreational Orientation: measures the amount of participation in social and recreational activities

Moral-Religious Emphasis: assesses the emphasis on ethical and religious issues and values

System Maintenance:
Two dimensions measure the degree of importance of clear organization and structure in planning family activities and responsibilities, as well as how much set rules and procedures are used to run family life.

Organization

Control

More about the FES.
The Family Environment Scale (FES) has been widely used in clinical settings, to facilitate family counseling and psychotherapy, to teach clinicians and program evaluators about family systems, and in program evaluation. It can be used to diagnose problems, monitor program changes over time, promote change and program improvement, appraise and improve parenting, strengthen the family unit and the individuals within it, describe, contrast and evaluate the impact of various types of treatment programs, and identify risks.

Basic description

Published in 1981

Three forms of the FES were developed:

The Real Form (Form R) measures people’s perceptions of their current family environment.
The ideal Form (Form I) measures people’s preferences about an ideal family environment.
The Expectations Form (Form E) measures people’s expectations about family settings

All three FES forms (Form R, Form I, and Form E) use the same answer sheet, scoring key, and profile form.

A child version of 30 items is also available

Authors have developed two summary indices from combinations of the FES subscales:

The Family Relationships Index, a 27-item index of the quality of family relationships, is the sum of the Cohesion, Expressiveness, and Conflict (reversed) subscales.
The Family Social Integration Index, another 27-item index, is the sum of the Intellectual-Cultural Orientation, Active-Recreational Orientation, and Moral-Religious Emphasis subscales.

Moos R; Moos BS

Objective

Therapeutic area

Generic

All

Type of Clinical Outcome Assessment (COA)

Original language(s)

English for the USA

22 translation(s)

Bibliographic reference(s) of the original questionnaire

Moos, R. H., & Moos, B. S. (1981). Family environment scale manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Moos, R. and Moos, B. (1986). Family Environment Scale Test Manual. California: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Moos, R. (1990). Conceptual and empirical approaches to developing family-based assessment procedures: Resolving the case of the Family Environment Scale. Family Process, 29, 199-208 (PubMed Abstract)

Member Access

Subscribe to PROQOLID to access to full information

Access to advanced descriptions of Clinical Outcome Assessments (COAs)

Family Environment Scale Manual 2020

A question?

Family Environment Scale Manual Free

Contact us