Journal of Student Research 2023

Exploring Family Dynamics, Mental Health, and Well-Being Among College Students...

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Measures

Family Dynamics

Eleven questions were taken from the original 90-item Family Environment Scale (FES; Moos & Moos, 1994) which measured perceptions of family cohesion, expression, conflict, and independence. The items from this shortened 11-item measure were selected to reduce survey participant burnout. Participants responded to items using the Scale’s Likert scale (“Strongly agree to “Strongly disagree”). Sample items included, “Family members really help and support one another,” and “If there’s a disagreement in our family, we try hard to smooth things over and keep the peace.” Higher total mean scores indicated stronger agreement with the questions or prompts (see Table 2).

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of Family Environment Scale (N = 56).

Mental Health and Well-Being

Participants completed the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7; Spitzer et al., 2006) to assess mental health and well-being, specifically anxiety symptoms. The measure included items rated on a 4-point Likert scale starting at 0 (0 = “Not at all” to 1 = “Several days,” 2 = “More than half,” and 3= “Nearly every day”) to the question, “how often have you been bothered by the following problems?” and included statements like, “feeling nervous, anxious, or on the edge,” and “not being able to stop or control worrying.” Higher mean scores indicated higher overall anxiety, while lower mean scores indicated fewer symptoms (see Table 3). It is important to note that our sample was not clinical, and we therefore did not determine cutoff points or interpret scores in a traditional sense that one may use to determine whether a person meets the criteria for generalized anxiety disorder.