Standardization of the test «Family Emotional Communication»

Abstract

Parent family plays an important role in the onset and course of affective spectrum disorders. There are few reliable psychological tests for adults to detect violations parent family system. We did a test «Family emotional communications». It reveals the to find the dysfunction in families of adult patients and to determine the target of psychotherapy. It was examined 460 adults (213 people — patients with affective disorders, 247 — population sample) to verify the reliability of this test. Factor analysis identified 7 scales in this test. Confirmatory analysis, verification test-retest reliability, coefficient of Cronbach’s Alpha, checking internal consistency and construct validity of the test showed that this test is a reliable and valid tool. This test is not influenced by gender, age and educational level. We have compared the parental families of patients with anxiety and depressive disorders with a group of people without any psychic disorder. Parent families of patients have more violations in the family system (overprotection, criticism, anxiety, emotional neglect). These violations can become the targets of psychotherapy of patients with affective disorders.