Factor analyses of a 65-item Family Attitudes Questionnaire were performed using data from 77 female medical students, and the results compared with those derived from parallel analyses previously carried out on 913 males. The first unrotated principal component appeared to be highly similar in both male and female groups, in that family closeness is the construct apparently measured. Further analyses, however, revealed the first principal component to be a function of good overall family relationships in women, but primarily a function of good father-son relationships in men.
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