The family routines inventory: development and validation

This report builds upon pertinent theoretical considerations regarding the nature and importance of routinization within families and describes the development and validation of a standardized inventory to measure family routines. The Family Routines Inventory (FRI) measures 28 positive, strength-promoting family routines, those observable, repetitive behaviours which involve two or more family members and which occur with predictable regularity in the daily life of a family. The 28 routines were selected from an extensive list of 104 routines obtained through family interviews. Scoring options for the inventory were identified based on their face validity and consistency with the underlying theoretical construct. The inventory was subsequently administered to a diverse group of families for reliability and validity testing. This testing identified an optimal scoring method (frequency score) for the inventory and revealed that the Family Routines Inventory, which measures the extent and importance of routinization within a given family, appears to be a reliable and valid measure of family cohesion, solidarity, order and overall satisfaction with family life.