Article Title: The Development of the Role Identification Scale for Adult Children of Alcoholic Fathers
Author(s): Ivan Suneel Samuel, Zahid Mahmood & Sadia Saleem
Institute(s): Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Management and Technology, Lahore
Journal: Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2014, Vol. 12, No.1, 3-11
Correspondence Address: Ivan Suneel Samuel, Zahid Mahmood and Sadia Saleem Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan; E-mail: suneel_icp@hotmail.com, zahid.mahmood@umt.edu.pk
Abstract
Adult children of alcoholic fathers develop compensatory roles in reaction to the dysfunction in the family (Wampler, Downs & Fischer, 2009). This study is an attempt to identify and develop a scale that would measure roles played by the adult children of the alcoholic families. For this purpose, 30 adult children of alcoholic fathers currently receiving in-patient treatment in a rehabilitation center were interviewed to extract a list of items related to their role playing, which were finalized (122 items) by 5 clinical psychologists and psychiatrists. Items that got lower than 90% agreement from these experts were removed, leaving the final list of 97 items, converted into a self-report measure (The Role Identification Scale: RIS) and administered to 202 men and 198 women with the age range of 18-25 (M =21.45,SD= 2.37) years. Principal Component Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed four factors, namely, Hero, Aggressor, Mascot and Withdrawn. The scale revealed adequate psychometric properties and suggested that men and women depict these four roles equivalently in a collectivistic culture. The use of RIS in rehabilitation and counseling of dysfunctional families due to an alcoholic father is proposed.
Keywords: alcoholism, fathers, role identification, reliability, validity
