A methodological study of a measure of family cohesion

Olson, Bell, and Portner (11) have recently developed a measure of family adaptability and cohesion (The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales). This study is a critical evaluation of the construction of the cohesion subscale of this instrument. Included is a partial replication of the original work of Olson et al. (11). Some problems with this subscale and its construction are pointed out, and a subset of the original items is presented and discussed. Some implications of these results for the conceptualization of the nature of family cohesion are also discussed.