The Family Worries Scale (FWS)

Sandra A. Graham-Bermann (1993).

References:

Graham-Bermann, S. A. (1996). Family Worries: The assessment of interpersonal anxiety in children from violent and nonviolent families. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 25(3), 280-287.

Variables Measured: The FWS was designed to assess the self-report of interpersonal anxiety or worries and concerns that children ages 6 to 12 have about different people in their family.

Type of Instrument: Questionnaire

Sample Measured: In the validation study, the FWS was used to compare the interpersonal anxiety of 7 to 12 year old children in low income families with others in similar, low SES groups, but where domestic violence was a concern. Approximately 60% of children in the validation study were from ethnic minority families, with the majority of these being African-American or bi-racial children. It has since been used in a number of intervention studies with children ages 6 to 13 years old.

Description of the Measure: The FWS is a 20 item rating scale questionnaire designed to evaluate interpersonal anxiety or worries a child may have regarding family members. Worries are divided into those related to the named person being harmed, or to the named person harming others. Twelve items combine to form the Vulnerability subscale, six items describe a person being a Harmful, or a threat to others, and two items did not load adequately or exclusively on one dimension. Vulnerability items include those related to the named person’s becoming hurt, hungry, sick, afraid, or in need of help. Worries that the person would hurt someone else, lie to the child, get arrested, scare the child, and get into a fight make up the factor labeled Harmful. Thus, this measure describes two aspects of worry for up to five individuals in the family. In doing so, the FWS allows the researcher or interviewer to identify specific areas of worry related to specific people in the child’s life. This approach is considered to be an improvement over individual measures of anxiety that describe the child as "anxious" rather the child as "anxious about or in the context of" the actions of specific people in the child’s life.

Administering the Measure: The scale begins with a statement and a question: "Some kids think about things that could happen or go wrong. How much would you say that you have thought about or worried about the following in your family?". The lead-in "I think that…" precedes the list of items. Items are read to the child by the interviewer. For each item, respondents indicate whether this is a worry not at all, a little, somewhat, or a lot. These responses are scored one through four, respectively. A visual image of a four point scale is shown to the child and consists of four beakers that represent the four response choices. Thus, the first beaker is empty and labeled "not at all". The second beaker is colored in about one third of the way and labeled "a little". The third beaker is colored two thirds full and labeled "somewhat". The last beaker is completely colored in and labeled "A lot".

Scoring: One Vulnerability score and one Harmful score is created for each person listed in the child’s family. Thus there is a Mom Vulnerable, Dad Vulnerable, Mom Harmful, Dad Harmful, etc. score. The vulnerable score is created for each person by summing the following 12 items and then dividing by 12: Items 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. The Harmful score is created for each person by summing the following 6 items and dividing by 6: Items 4, 6, 7, 18, 19, and 20. Scores for can computed for these subscales and/or for the overall 20 items by adding all items and dividing by 20.

Statistical Properties: Varimax factor analyses of the 20 items for each of five individuals in the family showed two stable factors. The reliability of Vulnerability factors ranged from Alpha of .77 to .88 across the five family members. Reliability (Alpha) of the Harmful factors ranged from .81 to .87 for the five family members. One week test-retest reliability for 15 children, ages 7 tyo 12, ranged from .62 to ,84 for the Harmful factors and .59 to .74 for the Vulnerability factors. Construct validity was evaluated through correlations with Achenbach & Edlebrock’s (1991) Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The CBCL measure of anxiety/depression correlated with worry about harm by the father (.31), brother (.33), and sister (.31). No other significant correlations were found. The measure differentiated known groups of children in families with violence from those in similarly low income but nonviolent families (see reference below for additional statistical description and results).

The Family Worries Scale (FWS)

Sandra A. Graham-Bermann (1993).

Following the child’s willingness to participate [assent] and after obtaining the parent or guardian’s permission [consent], ask the child to: "Please list all of the people who live in your family". Note that this may not be the same as those who live in the child’s house (e.g., fathers). Check the appropriate people. You can prompt the child if you know that certain people do live in the child’s family. Then ask the child to respond to each question in relation to the different people in the family, including the child him or herself.

The interviewer states: "Some kids think about things that could happen or go wrong. How much would you say that you have thought about or worried about the following things about the people in your family?" If you never worry about that, you point here [show scale (see slide)] at "Not at All". If you worry just a bit, then you point here, to "A Little". If you sometimes worry then you point here to "Somewhat". If you worry most of the time about that person then you point to "A Lot". Are you ready to begin? You can stop at any time.

How much do you worry that ___(insert family member name here)____:

1. Will get sick?

		1=Not at All		2= A Little		3=Somewhat		4= A Lot
Mother		______		______		______		______
Dad, or father figure		______		______		______		______
I, me		______		______		______		______
Brother		______		______		______		______
Sister		______		______		______		______

2. Will be worried a lot?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



3. Will lose a job?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



4. Will do something that scares me?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



5. Will get hurt?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



6. Will get arrested?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



7. Will be fighting?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



8. Will need help?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



9. Won’t have enough money?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



10. Won’t have a place to live?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



11. Will be mad or angry?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



12. Won’t have enough to eat?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



13. Will feel sad?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



14. Will move away?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



15. Will feel afraid?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



16. Won’t keep bad things from happening?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



17. Will die?

    	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
    Mother	______	______	______	______
    Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
    I, me	______	______	______	______
    Brother	______	______	______	______
    Sister	______	______	______	______

    
    
18. Will hurt somebody?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



19. Won’t listen?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______



20. Will tell a lie?

	1=Not at All	2= A Little	3=Somewhat	4= A Lot
Mother	______	______	______	______
Dad, or father figure	______	______	______	______
I, me	______	______	______	______
Brother	______	______	______	______
Sister	______	______	______	______

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