Friendship Qualities Scale – FQS
Measures the quality of a child's or adolescent's friendship across five distinct dimensions.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Friendship Qualities Scale – FQS was developed by William M. Bukowski, Bo Hoza, Michel Boivin (1994). It is designed to measure Friendship Quality. The scale is intended for use with Children and adolescents.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 23 items organized into 5 factors/subscales: Companionship, Conflict, Closeness, Help, Security.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Companionship | 1,6,11,16 | 4 |
| Conflict | 2,7,12,17 | 4 |
| Closeness | 4,5,9,10,15,20 | 6 |
| Help | 3,8,13,18,23 | 5 |
| Security | 14,19,21,22 | 4 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Not at all true, 2 = A little true, 3 = Somewhat true, 4 = Pretty true, 5 = Really true.
The scale includes 1 reverse-scored items to reduce acquiescence bias.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 23 to 115. Interpretation guidelines:
- Low Friendship Quality: 23 – 55
- Moderate Friendship Quality: 56 – 87
- High Friendship Quality: 88 – 115
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Companionship: .72, Conflict: .68, Closeness: .76, Help: .81, Security: .58.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.