PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE CHINESE FAMILY ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT IN CHINESE ADOLESCENTS IN HONG KONG Andrew M. H. Siu and Daniel T. L. Shek ABSTRACT This paper reports evidence on the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Chinese Family Assessment Instrument (C-FAI), an instrument developed to assess family fiinctioning in Chinese populations. A convenience sample of 1,462 adolescents from junior secondary schools completed the C-FAI and measures of parent-adolescent conflict. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that five factors were abstracted from the scale, a finding which was similar to those reported in previous validation studies. Results fdso showed that the C-FAI was internally consistent and its scores were mod- erately correlated with measures of conflict with parents, providing support for the convergent validity of the measure. Finally, females perceived family functioning to be better than did males and age was linearly related to per- ceived family dysfunction. In conjunction with the previous findings, the pres- ent study suggests that the C-FAI can be used to objectively assess family functioning in Chinese adolescents. Healthy family functioning has been a key area of interest among helping professionals who provide family interventions. With the rapid development of family therapy and interventions in China, there has been sin increasing need for a standardized assessment tool of family functioning in Chinese populations (Shek, 2001a, 2002; Yang, Kang, Zhao, & Xu, 2002). This paper reports further evidence on the psycho- metric properties (including dimensionality, reliability, and vahdity) ofthe Chinese Family Assessment Instrument (C-FAI), which was one of the first indigenous instruments developed for the assessment of family functioning in Chinese populations (Shek, 2002b). A review ofthe current literature showed that quite a number of self- report instruments have been developed to measure Andrew M. H. Siu, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hong Kong Poly- technic University. Daniel T. L. Shek, Social Welfare Practice and Research Centre, Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Send reprint requests to Andrew M. H. Siu, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Hong Kong SAR, P.R. China (E-mail: rsandsiu@poljTi.edu.hk) ADOLESCENCE, Vol. 40, No. 160, Winter 2005 Libra Pubiishers, Inc., 3089C Clairemont Dr., PMB 383, San Diego, CA 92117