Scientific background: Family Function

About this test

The Family APGAR was developed in 1978 by family physician Gabriel Smilkstein to quickly assess family function in a primary care setting -- named after the well-known APGAR score from obstetrics. The name is an acronym for the five areas it covers: Adaptation (support), Partnership (communication), Growth, Affection, and Resolve (shared time/connectedness). Studies consistently show high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha .80-.90) and good test-retest reliability. Factor analyses suggest the five items mostly capture a single, global dimension of "satisfaction with family" rather than five separate constructs.

The validation study by Smilkstein and Ashworth (1982) compared families with and without known functional problems and found clear differences in the expected direction -- since then the Family APGAR has been used in primary care worldwide and translated into numerous languages. We're not aware of a large-scale, independently published English-language norming study with its own population norms beyond the original development samples; the scoring here follows the internationally established structure and interpretation of the original instrument.

Dimensions

Sources & license

• Smilkstein, G. (1978). The family APGAR: A proposal for a family function test and its use by physicians. The Journal of Family Practice, 6(6), 1231–1239.

  The Family APGAR is public domain and may be used without permission; citing the original source is requested. Item wording and the official 0-3/4-6/7-10 scoring bands were verified verbatim against the original 1978 article.

• Smilkstein, G., Ashworth, C., & Montano, D. (1982). Validity and reliability of the family APGAR as a test of family function. The Journal of Family Practice, 15(2), 303–311.

  Scientific publication, cited as evidence for the validation study.