How do Subjects Interpret Items in Olson's Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES)?

Most items in the FACES inventories may, from a layperson's perspective, reflect an underlying linear model—the more cohesion or adaptability, the better for marital or family functioning. If so, modifying the FACES items to clearly place the balanced or functional response at the midpoint with the dysfunctional responses at both extremes might convey the intent of the circumplex model to subjects with less ambiguity. A comparison of modified and regular FACES II items yielded some support for the hypothesis that some subjects who saw themselves as having balanced levels of cohesion or adaptability on the modified format would report extreme levels of cohesion or adaptability on the regular format. Recent revisions of FACES that have attempted to improve the validity of the scales have failed to address this particular issue.