Table of Contents
Description
This measure, (Control Over Areas of Work and Family) developed by Thomas and Ganster (1995), describes an employee’s perceptions of control over aspects of work and family responsibilities and demands that have been shown to contribute to work-family conflict. The measure uses 14 items to assess the extent to which employees per ceive they have control over such work and home areas as work scheduling and taking time off to attend to a sick parent.
Reliability
Coefficient alpha was .75 (Thomas & Ganster, 1995).
Validity
Control over work and family areas correlated positively with job satisfac tion and perceived support. Control correlated negatively with perceived work-family conflict and depression (Thomas & Ganster, 1995).
Source
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 were taken from the appendix, p15. Copyright © 1995 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission.
Items
Responses are obtained on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = very little and 5 = very much.
- How much choice do you have over the amount and quality of day care available for your child/children?
- How much choice do you have over the amount and quality of care available for a sick child?
- How much choice do you have in obtaining adult supervision for your child/children before or after school?
- How much choice do you have over the amount and quality of day care available for a dependent parent or other relative?
- How much choice do you have over when you begin and end each workday or each workweek?
- How much choice do you have in arranging part-time employment?
- To what extent can you choose to do some of your work at home instead of your usual place of employment?
- How much choice do you have over amount and timing of work that you must do at home in order to meet your employment demands?
- How much choice do you have over the amount you pay for dependent care?
- How much choice do you have over when you can take vacations or days off?
- How much choice do you have over when you can take a few hours off?
- To what extent are you expected to limit the number of times you make or receive personal phone calls while you work?
- How much choice do you have in making unanticipated child care arrangements (e.g., during snow days or unexpected job delays)?
- In general, how much control do you have over the way you balance working and parenting?