Assessment of the Family Context in Adolescence: A Systematic Review
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
the authors worked hard on reviewing research literature but what's the point of the paper? Instruments gather data but in this case the most important element is missing: Did instruments use culturally valid questions? What languages were used in instruments? Research found that Results: The results
obtained reveal that the instruments measure different aspects of the family. Family life is more complex that a survey can measure. Researchers select different variables but are these variable culturally valid within the sample? Or did these measures address family variables within the culture of the families sampled? Family is the quintessential social unit in all cultures. Self-ports will vary be language. Did the researchers using their instrument account for language variation? And If researchers spoke language S and families spoke multiple languages or even a single language how did instruments account for cultural variation? There's literature on cultural validity in DAP studies focused on asking culturally valid questions. How can researchers be sure they are asking questions of family life that make cultural sense to parents and their children? At the least authors must address culture and languages used in data collection. Were the studies surveyed using only English? How did researchers account for cultural and language variation? Why is culture and language important? Here's why: "These different measures on family characteristics can be used
in different environments and psychological environments to improve
educational and child agendas in this context." I suspect that even if parents weren't sure of what the questions were asked for, they'd still answer the questions. A lot of data are collected but what do these data tell use about culture of families. How does this research improve family research across cultures?
Author Response
Thank you very much for your positive feedback. Please find below, the articule modifications taking into account each of the contributions for the improvement of this work.
- The introduction includes now extended information about the functions of the family in relation to the transmission of culture and how this determines the educational guidelines of parents in the socialization of adolescent children.
- The research objective and its corresponding hypotheses are also described to a greater extent.
- Within the inclusion criteria, articles in English and Spanish were selected. However, the samples come from different countries and that is why, following the appreciated reviews and indications, which has been specified in Table 1, in the results section, the "language of the original instrument" and "the translation into the corresponding language or adaptation of the proof". All the articles have been reviewed again and the reference to “Carr and Stratton, 2017” has been removed from Table 1, as it is a theoretical review and not an empirical study. This change has been included in the summary, Figure 1, and in the writing of results. Table 1 also includes the reliability indices of the “FACES” test and the “Self-Questionnaire of Internal Models of Adult Attachment Relationships”.
- In the discussion and conclusions sections, information is collected on issues related to the cultural validity of the tests and the contributions of this research on the family in this regard. Thank you very much for your suggestions in this again.
- Finally, the English translation of the original text has been revised.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
First of all, congratulations to the author for the work done. The work is rigorous and well developed, and the author honestly details the limitations of the study itself.
The topic addressed is very interesting, taking into account that the family is a universal concept (due to the great cultural diversity) and that there are many types of family. Even the United Nations itself declares the concept of family in the Human Rights. Therefore, it is important to know the different multidimensional tools to make all kinds of measures.
Some suggestions for improving the manuscript.
Regarding the Introduction,
It would be interesting to include a brief reference to the universal character of the family, so the definition proposed by the UN or the Declaration of Human Rights itself could be cited. In general, the approach adopted in the introduction is adequate. It goes from the general to the particular. First, the diversity of families is discussed, followed by the different approaches to the study of the family environment and the different assessment tools.
In relation to methodology,
Two observations, on the one hand, simply out of curiosity, if the author has used the PRISMA statement, she could have used the same diagram that facilitates the statement itself. But well, I understand that using an adapted diagram should not be a problem.On the other hand, I do not know if the author has used any descriptors search (EMBASE, MeSH, DeCS, ...). This if it would be opportune to develop a little more.
Author Response
Thank you very much for your positive feedback. Please find below, the articule modifications taking into account each of the contributions for the improvement of this work.
- In the introductory section, the definition of family proposed by United Nations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is included, as suggested, as well as relevant information on the family according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Figure 1 referring to the flow chart has been modified to adapt it, according to your suggestions, to the PRISMA format.
- Following the recommendations, a search was carried out with the MeSH thesaurus, which obtained 161 results, although none were relevant to the subject of analysis. Likewise, a search was carried out in the alphabetical index of the DeCS thesaurus for the descriptors of health sciences. However, using different search options, no terms related to the family context assessment instruments were found. Finally, the search is not carried out from EMBASE as it is a database specialized in pharmacology and neurosciences.
- All citations in the text and in references are renumbered.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors dotted the revision with the term culture, but failed to address the critical issue: how do instruments, written in English or Spanish or Tagalog, account for cultural variability? "The family .... transmits the values, beliefs, norms and forms of conduct of a given society." Culture transmits values, beliefs and norms. Let's not forget subcultural variability. Do all cultures see families as a group? "It could ... be said that the concept of family is universal, due to the great cultural diversity, the family..." That statement is a tautology. Authors continue to assume that the "family" as described in American English or in Spanish is equivalent in structure and function across sub-cultures. Biology identifies females as the source of offspring, but culture defines who is the mother, father, brother, sister. There are ample examples of cultures that define father's sister's son as the prescribed marriage partner of mother's brother's daughter. In American culture that's incest. In English this pattern is called mother's brother's daughter marriage, common in non-western, non-literate cultures. The most serious problem in that the paper does not account for ethno-centric psycho-social instruments. With that in mind, asses instruments "measuring" family systems. Ethnocentric measures are biased. Now what?
Author Response
Agradezco enormemente al revisor sus comentarios, pero el artículo no tiene como objetivo revisar instrumentos psicosociales etnocéntricos. Se incluyen todos los instrumentos que, cumpliendo los criterios de elegibilidad que se reconocen en el artículo, existen en las diferentes bases de datos seleccionadas.
Tal vez podría ser el objetivo de otro estudio de investigación.
Por otro lado, compartimos que la familia es una subcultura dentro del contexto cultural en el que se encuentra inmersa, quizás consideramos que debe quedar aclarado en el texto, sin embargo, los aspectos culturales de la familia no son el objetivo principal de la trabajo.
No entiendo muy bien que es lo que debo incluir: todos los instrumentos de las bases de datos consultadas y seleccionadas son para este trabajo. Por favor proporcione un ejemplo de un instrumento etnocéntrico y comparta las referencias que debo consultar, considerando la metodología del presente estudio.
