Structure and sociodemographis characteristics of the family climate in Vojvodina

Abstract

Research presented in this paper aimed to investigate psychometric characteristics and factor structure of Family Climate Inventory (FCI Kurdek et al., 1995), as well as the sociodemographic correlates of the quality of family environment operacionalized by this scale. The research sample consisted of 561 adolescents (average age 16). Four factores were extracted.Total variance explained by these four factors was 62. 29%. First factor has been defined as Acceptance, the second (Autonomy) considers the estimated level of independence between family members. The third factor Conflicts implies frequency and influence of conflict situations and relations within the family. The fourth isolated factor- Supervision, was the dimension of original FCI scale, but has shown poor metric characteristics in our sample, and has been excluded from further analysis. The reduced Family Climate Inventory consists of 18 items, and has good psychometric characteristics (Cronbah a =.94). Family climate is assessed as better in dual earning families with egalitarian division of parental roles and household labor. Adolescents from rural families describe their family environment as better in quality.

Keywords

• family climate
• family and social transition