Now, reverse scores for statements 3, 6,
7, 11, and 13 (1 becomes 4, 4 becomes 1,
3 becomes 2, and so forth)
Strong Family Quiz Results
While this quiz has no scientific value,
it will give you some indication of how
you think your family “rates” on the
strong family scale.
What Experts Say About Family Strengths
What makes a family strong? What
strengths constitute a strong family? These
are questions researchers have asked for
many years. The word strength in this
context means a powerful attribute or an
inherent asset a family possesses. Herbert
Otto (1962) was one of the first to look at
intact families in terms of their strengths.
He suggested family strengths are
interrelated and, taken together, they
yielded what he called “family strength.”
Over the last 30 years, researchers have
continued to refine Otto’s thinking,
suggesting families which exhibit these
various family strengths are “strong
families.” Sidebar 14.1 presents 13
propositions about strong families.
John Stinnett and Nick DeFrain are
two of the leading researchers, who have
built on Otto’s work since the 1970s. They
have been writing about family strengths
for the past 25 years and have authored
dozens of books and many more articles.
Stinnett, DeFrain and their colleagues
have conducted the most extensive studies
of family strengths. In the last 30 years of
study, these researchers have collected
family-strengths data on more than 10,000
families from more than 20 countries
around the world, including the United
States (DeFrain, 1999; DeFrain & Stinnett,
2002). While researchers differ in their
definition of “strength,” they have come to
surprisingly similar conclusions about
specific family strengths.
In all of the data collected regarding
strong families, six major qualities or
themes appear consistently. These
qualities or themes are common in the
lives of strong families across the United
States and in countries around the globe
(Stinnett & Walters, 1971; Stinnett &
Sauer, 1977; Stinnett, Chesser, & DeFrain,
1981; Stinnett, 1983; Stinnett & DeFrain,
1985; DeFrain, Fricke, & Elmen, 1987;
DeFrain, DeFrain, & Lepard, 1994;Chapter 14
- 60: This is the maximum score,
indicating you feel you have an
extremely strong family. - 45–59: From your perspective, your
family falls in the “fairly normal”
range, where most families are. - Less than 45:You perceive a need for
improvement in the area of your
family’s strengths.