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How do Runaway Adolescents and their Parents Perceive the Family? Measurement Invariance in the Family Functioning Scale

Sanna J Thompson

Abstract
Exploring perceptual discrepancies and how they affect family life may be particularly relevant when household
dynamics have broken down to the point that a child runs away or is forced to leave the home. This study explored
the sources of differences between parents’ and youths’ reports of family functioning and, more generally, illustrates
how to perform confirmatory factor analysis methods to purge error due to measurement invariance. Basic concepts
and methods that are often needed in social work research are described. Creating uni-dimensional and configurable
invariant subscales resulted in improved significance for the Conflict subscale over traditional methods. All other
subscales remained significantly different between parents and youths at all levels of invariance. Findings highlight
the caution required in using any scale to measure the same construct for two different populations, such as parents
and children.