Family environment as perceived by children with a chronically ill parent.

Thirty-three index children, aged 12-18 years, with a non-hospitalized multiple sclerotic patient and 33 control subjects were administered the Family Environment Scale, a scale that measures perception of family environment on the dimensions of family relationships, personal growth, and system maintenance. Subjects in the index group were each matched with a control subject on the basis of sex, age, number of siblings in the family, and socioeconomic status. Results indicated that in comparison with control group families, index group families were higher on the conflict subscale and lower on cohesion, intellectual-cultural orientation, moral-religious emphasis, and organization subscales. These findings are explained using a family systems analysis. The potential assets of utilizing a family systems orientation to explain these findings and the heuristic values of this framework are highlighted.