Job-Family Role Strain Scale

Abstract

The Job-Family Role Strain Scale (JFRSS), developed by Bohen and Viveros-Long in 1981, is a psychometric instrument designed to measure the frequency and intensity with which working parents experience stress and strain resulting from the combination of professional work and parental responsibilities. The scale operationalizes role strain by assessing several critical dimensions, including ambiguity regarding norms, conflict between social roles and personality, insufficiency of resources required for adequate role fulfillment, low extrinsic or intrinsic rewards for role conformity, conflicting normative demands, and specifically, role overload. It provides a comprehensive measure of the subjective experience of difficulty managing the work-family interface.

Keywords

Work-family balance, Work-Family Role Strain, Role conflict, Parental stress, Job stress, Work-life integration, Psychological measurement, Role overload.

Authors

Bohen, H., Viveros-Long, A.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Job-Family Role Strain Scale is to quantify the degree of stress and strain experienced by respondents when attempting to balance the demands of their job roles with their family and parenting roles. It serves as a diagnostic tool in organizational and family psychology research to understand the negative outcomes associated with competing life spheres.

The scale is particularly useful for identifying specific sources of strain, such as time constraints, emotional exhaustion, and perceived societal judgment regarding work and family commitment, thereby guiding interventions aimed at improving employee well-being and organizational policy development.

Construct

The JFRSS measures the psychological construct of Job-Family Role Strain, which is a specific form of Role Strain arising from the incompatibility or difficulty in meeting the expectations of both occupational and domestic roles, particularly parenting.

The measure is multifaceted, assessing strain across six conceptual domains: normative ambiguity, lack of congruence between the individual’s personality and the required social roles, inadequate resources (time, energy, support) needed for role fulfillment, insufficient rewards derived from role enactment, conflict between competing role norms, and the generalized feeling of being overwhelmed (role overload).

Validity

Validity evidence for the JFRSS is robust, particularly concerning its distinctiveness from related constructs. Research by Duxbury and Higgins (1991) demonstrated that work-family role strain, as measured by the JFRSS, is empirically distinct from concepts such as work conflict, family conflict, work involvement, family involvement, and expectations related to both domains.

The scale exhibits expected patterns of correlations with other variables, supporting its construct validity. Specifically, work-family role strain showed positive correlations with measures of work involvement, work expectations, depression, perceived control at work, family expectations, and perceptions of family-supportive policies within the workplace. Conversely, the strain correlated negatively with indicators of well-being, including quality of work life, quality of family life, job satisfaction, and overall life satisfaction (Duxbury & Higgins, 1991; Higgins et al., 1992; Thomas & Ganster, 1995).

Reliability

The internal consistency reliability of the Job-Family Role Strain Scale has been consistently documented across multiple studies utilizing different samples of working individuals. The measure demonstrates high levels of reliability, typically assessed using Coefficient alpha.

Reported Coefficient alpha values for the JFRSS ranged consistently from .88 to .91 in studies conducted by Duxbury and Higgins (1991), Higgins, Duxbury, and Irving (1992), and Thomas and Ganster (1995). These high values indicate strong internal consistency, suggesting that the items reliably measure the same underlying construct of job-family role strain.

Factor Analysis

While the original reference (Bohen & Viveros-Long, 1981) detailed the various conceptual facets of role strain that the scale was designed to capture, explicit details regarding the statistical factor structure (e.g., results of Exploratory or Confirmatory Factor Analysis) were not provided in the primary source document.

Subsequent research utilizing the JFRSS, however, often implies a multidimensional structure consistent with the theoretical breakdown of role strain, differentiating between dimensions such as time-based strain, fatigue (physical and emotional), and psychological worry or conflict. Researchers often employ the scale either as a unidimensional measure of overall strain or analyze sub-factors based on conceptual groupings of the items.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological scale (Survey)

Format: 5-point Likert-type scale

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Working adults, specifically those with parenting responsibilities.

Age Group: Adult (Generally 20-65 years old)

Population Details: Individuals engaged in paid employment who are simultaneously managing family roles and duties related to children.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate their frequency of experiencing specific role strain indicators. The response options range from 1 = always to 5 = never, assessing the intensity or frequency of strain experienced in the work-family interface.

Keywords

Psychometrics, Internal consistency, Cronbach’s Alpha, Work-family interface, Job satisfaction, Parenting demands, Organizational psychology, Likert Scale.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source material.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence related to the original publication should be directed toward the publisher: Temple University Press, Philadelphia.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Job-Family Role Strain Scale was published in 1981. The original items were reprinted with permission from the source book. Researchers seeking to use the full scale should consult the original publication, Balancing Jobs and Family Life, or contact the authors or publisher for current permissions and usage fees, as required by copyright law.

Reference’s

• Bohen, H., & Viveros-Long, A. (1981). Balancing jobs and family life. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Items were taken from Appendix H, pp. 274, 278.
• Duxbury, L., & Higgins, C. (1991). Gender differences in work-family conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(1), 60-74.
• Higgins, C., Duxbury, L., & Irving, R. (1992). Correlates of work-family conflict and job satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13(1), 57-65.
• Thomas, L. T., & Ganster, D. C. (1995). Impact of family-supportive work variables on work-family conflict and strain: A control perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80(1), 6-15.

Items of the Job-Family Role Strain Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Responses are obtained on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = always, 2 = most of the time, 3 = some of the time, 4 = rarely, and 5 = never.

1. My job keeps me away from my family too much
2. I feel I have more to do than I can handle comfortably
3. I have a good balance between my job and my family time
4. I wish I had more time to do things for my family
5. I feel physically drained when I get home from work
6. I feel emotionally drained when I get home from work
7. I feel I have to rush to get everything done each day
8. My time off from work does not match other family members’ schedules well
9. I feel I don’t have enough time for myself
10. I worry that other people at work think my family interferes with my job
11. I feel more respected than I would if I didn’t have a job
12. I worry whether I should work less and spend more time with my children
13. I am a better parent because I am not with my children all day
14. I find enough time for the children
15. I worry about how my kids are when I am working
16. I have as much patience with my children as I would like
17. I am comfortable with the arrangements for my children while I am working
18. Making arrangements for my children while I work involves a lot of effort
19. I worry that other people feel I should spend more time with my