Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Reliability and Validity of Family Affluence Scale (FAS II) among Adolescents in Beijing, China

  • Published:
Child Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study comprises two sub-studies. Study I assessed the test-retest reliability of Family Affluence Scale (FAS II) items among 95 students aged 11 and 15 years old in Beijing. Study II investigated the completion rate of traditional indicators (parents’ educational level, perceived family wealth, resident area, and school location) measuring socioeconomic status (SES) compared with FAS II, and examined the internal reliability, external and construct validity of the FAS II items in a population of 5876 schoolchildren aged 11, 13 and 15 years old in Beijing. Our study found that the FAS II items have high completion rates (> 99%) which are better than other SES indicators. Analyses of reliability showed a moderate internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.58) and at least substantial test-retest reliability (ICC > 0.75). Moderate external validity of FAS II was found by Spearman rank correlation between FAS II and other SES indicators (parental education level and perceived family wealth) (r s  = 0.48–0.51, p < 0.001) and ordinal regressions. Graphical log-linear Rasch model (GLLRM) showed that FAS has adequate construct validity (few LD and weak DIF). In conclusion, the FAS II is a reliable and valid SES measure for adolescents in the Beijing area.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andersen, A., Krølner, R., Currie, C., Dallago, L., Due, P., Richter, M., Orkényi, A., & Holstein, B. E. (2008). High agreement on family affluence between children’s and parents’ reports: international study of 11-year-old children. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 62, 1092–1094.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics. (2010). Beijing statistical year book. Beijing: China Statistical Publishing House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boudreau, B., & Poulin, C. (2009). An examination of the validity of the Family Affluence Scale II (FAS II) in a general adolescent population of Canada. Social Indicators Research, 94, 29–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyce, W., Torsheim, T., Currie, C., & Zambon, A. (2006). The Family Affluence Scale as a measure of national wealth: validation of an adolescent self-report measure. Social Indicators Research, 78, 473–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carstairs, V., & Morris, R. (1991). Deprivation and health in Scotland. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cho, H. J., & Khang, Y. H. (2010). Family Affluence Scale, other socioeconomic position indicators, and self-rated health among South Korean adolescents: findings from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBWS). Journal of Public Health, 18(2), 169–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Currie, C., Elton, R. A., Todd, J., & Platt, S. (1997). Indicators of socioeconomic status for adolescents: the WHO Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey. Health Education Research, 12(3), 385–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Currie, C., Samdal, O., Boyce, W., & Smith, R. (Eds.). (2001). Health Behaviour in Schoolaged Children: a WHO Cross-National Study (HBSC), Research Protocol for the 2001/2002 Survey. Edinburgh: Child and Adolescent Health Research Unit (CAHRU), University of Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Currie, C., Roberts, C., Morgan, A., Smith, R., Settertobulte, W., Samdal, O., & Barnekow, V. (Eds.). (2004). Young people’s health in context. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Currie, C., Molcho, M., Boyce, W., Holstein, B. E., Torsheim, T., & Richter, M. (2008a). Researching health inequalities in adolescents: the development of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Family Affluence Scale. Social Science & Medicine, 66, 1429–1436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Currie, C., Nic Gabhainn, S., Godeau, E., Roberts, C., Smith, R., Currie, D., Pickett, W., Morgan, A., & Barnekow, V. (Eds.). (2008b). Inequalities in young people’s health: HBSC international report from the 2005/2006 survey. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalstra, J., Kunst, A., & Mackenbach, J. (2006). A comparative appraisal of the relationship of education, income and housing tenure with less than good health among the elderly in Europe. Social Science & Medicine, 62, 2046–2060.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, E. (1999). The role of socioeconomic status gradients in explaining differences in US adolescents’ health. American Journal of Public Health, 89, 1522–1528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, E., Adler, N. E., Kawachi, I., Frazier, A. L., Huang, B., & Colditz, G. A. (2001). Adolescents’ perceptions of social status: development and evaluation of a new indicator. Pediatrics, 108(2), 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finney, S. J., & DiStefano, C. (2006). Non-normal and categorical data in structural equation modeling. In G. R. Hancock & R. O. Mueller (Eds.), Structural equation modeling: A second course. Greenwich: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kreiner, S. (2009). A guided tour through DIGRAM 2.0: Analysis of contingency tables by chain graph models. Copenhagen: Department of Biostatistics, University of Copenhagen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landis, J. R., & Koch, G. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33, 159–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, H., & Zhu, Y. (2006). Income, income inequality, and health: evidence from China. Journal of Comparative Economics, 34, 668–693.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Y. C. (2011). Assessing the use of the Family Affluence Scale as socioeconomic indicators for researching health inequalities in Taiwan adolescents. Social Indicators Research, 102, 463–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Y., Hsiao, W., & Eggleston, K. (1999). Equity in health and health care: the Chinese experience. Social Science & Medicine, 49, 1349–1356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Y., Wang, M., Tynjälä, J., Lv, Y., Villberg, J., Zhang, Z., & Kannas, L. (2010). Test-retest reliability of selected items of Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey questionnaire in Beijing, China. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 10, 73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maes, L., Vereecken, C., Vanobbergen, J., & Honkala, S. (2006). Tooth brushing and social characteristics of families in 32 countries. International Dental Journal, 56, 159–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marmot, M. (2005). Social determinants of health inequalities. The Lancet, 365, 1099–1104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Molcho, M., Nic Gabhainn, S., & Kelleher, C. (2007). Assessing the use of the Family Affluence Scale (FAS) among Irish schoolchildren. Irish Medical Journal, 100(8), 37–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2010). Mplus User’s Guide (6th ed.). Los Angeles: Muthén & Muthén.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrove, J. M., & Adler, N. E. (1998). Socioeconomic status and health. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 11, 649–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickett, W., Molcho, M., Simpson, K., Janssen, I., Kuntsche, E., Mazur, J., Harel, Y., & Boyce, W. (2005). Cross-national studyof injury and social determinants in adolescents. Injury Prevention, 11, 213–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richter, M., Erhart, M., Vereecken, C. A., Zambon, A., Boyce, W., & Gabhainn, S. N. (2009). The role of behavioural factors in explaining socio-economic differences in adolescent health: A multilevel study in 33 countries. Social Science & Medicine, 69(3), 396–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ritterman, M. L., Fernald, L. C., Ozer, E. J., Adler, N. E., Gutierrez, J. P., & Syme, S. L. (2009). Objective and subjective social class gradients for substance use among Mexican adolescents. Social Science & Medicine, 68, 1843–1851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum, P. R. (1989). Criterion-related construct validity. Psychometrika, 54, 625–633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schnohr, C., Kreiner, S., Due, P., Currie, C., Boyce, W., & Diderichsen, F. (2008). Differential item functioning of a family affluence scale: validation study on data from HBSC 2001/02. Social Indicators Research, 89(1), 79–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shrout, P. E., & Fleiss, J. L. (1979). Intraclass correlations: use in assessing rater reliability. Psychological Bulletin, 86(2), 420–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Starfield, B., Riley, A. W., Witt, W. P., & Robertson, J. (2002). Social class gradients in health during adolescence. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 56, 354–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torsheim, T., Currie, C., Boyce, W., Kalnins, I., Overpeck, M., & Haughland, S. (2004a). Material deprivation and self-rated health: a multilevel study of adolescents from 22 European and North American countries. Social Science & Medicine, 59(1), 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torsheim, T., Valimaa, R., & Danielson, M. (2004b). Health and well-being. In C. Currie, C. Roberts, A. Morgan, R. Smith, W. Settertobulte, O. Samdal, & V. Barnekow Rasmussen (Eds.), Young people’s health in context: Health Policy for children and adolescents no. 4 (pp. 55–62). Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torsheim, T., Currie, C., Boyce, W., & Samdal, O. (2006). Country material distribution and adolescents’ perceived health: multilevel study of adolescents in 27 countries. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60, 156–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Townsend, P. (1987). Deprivation. Journal of Social Policy, 16(2), 147–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wardle, J., Robb, K., & Johnson, F. (2002). Assessing socioeconomic status in adolescents: the validity of a home affluence scale. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 56, 595–599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wardle, J., Robb, K. A., Johnson, F., Griffith, J., Brunner, E., Power, C., & Martin, T. (2004). Socioeconomic variation in attitudes to eating and weight in female adolescents. Health Psychology, 23(3), 275–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West, P. (1997). Health inequalities in the early years: is there equalization in youth? Social Science and Medicine, 44, 833–858.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West, P., & Sweeting, H. (2004). Evidence on equalization in health in youth from the West of Scotland. Social Science & Medicine, 59(1), 13–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Ms. Lanmin Xiao from Beijing Experimental School of Xicheng District and Ms. Jing Tian from Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences for helping to organize and conduct the field work. The authors also would like to thank Mr. Michael Ormshaw for checking the language of the manuscript. As a part of joint research project, this study was supported by the China Institute of Sport Science (CISS) and the Research Centre for Health Promotion at the Department of Health Science in the University of Jyväskylä. The survey and data collection were funded by the CISS. During this research, the first author was supported by grants from the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies and the University of Jyväskylä.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre for Health Promotion, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, P.O.Box 35 (Viveca), Jyväskylä, 40014, Finland

    Yang Liu, Jari Villberg, Jorma Tynjälä & Lasse Kannas

  2. Mass Research Centre, China Institute of Sport Science, Beijing, China

    Mei Wang

  3. Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Torbjørn Torsheim

  4. Zhejiang Institute of Sports Science, Hangzhou, China

    Yan Lv

Authors
  1. Yang Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mei Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jari Villberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Torbjørn Torsheim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jorma Tynjälä
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yan Lv
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Lasse Kannas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yang Liu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Liu, Y., Wang, M., Villberg, J. et al. Reliability and Validity of Family Affluence Scale (FAS II) among Adolescents in Beijing, China. Child Ind Res 5, 235–251 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-011-9131-5

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-011-9131-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation