Job and Non-Work Conflict

Description

This measure, (Job and Non-Work Conflict) developed by Small and Riley (1990), assesses the extent of spillover of work demands into four nonwork roles. These are leisure, home­ maker, parent, and spouse. The measure is based on the scarcity hypothesis, which contends that individuals have a finite amount of energy. When an individual is involved in multiple social roles, these roles tend to drain (stress) them resulting in the depletion of energy resources or burnout in their roles as worker, spouse, and parent.

Reliability

Coefficient alpha values for the job-spouse and job-parent conflict scales were .70 and .81, respectively (Aryee, 1993).

Validity

Job-parent conflict correlated positively with number of children under six years of age and job-spouse conflict for both husbands and wives. Job­ parent conflict also correlated positively with hours spent on the job for wives, but not husbands. For husbands, job-parent conflict was correlated positively with burnout and negatively with quality of spousal experience. Job-spouse conflict was correlated positively with burnout for husbands, but not for wives. For wives, job-spouse conflict correlated positively with time at work, work role ambiguity, and lack of career progress (Aryee, 1993).

Source

Small, S., & Riley, D. (1990). Towards a multidimensional assessment of work spillover into family life. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 51-61 Items were taken from Table 1, p. 53. Copyright© 1990 by the National Council on Family Relations, 3989 Central Ave. NE, Suite 550, Minneapo­ lis, MN 55421. Reprinted by permission.

Items

Responses are obtained using a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree.

Job-marriage conflict items:

1. My job helps me have a better relationship with my spouse
2. My job keeps me from spending time with my spouse
3. Worrying about my job is interfering with my relationship with my spouse
4. After work I am too tired to do things with my spouse
5. My marriage suffers because of my work

Job-parent conflict items:

1. My job makes it hard for me to have a good relationship with my children
2. My working hours interfere with the amount of time I spend with my children
3. Because I am often irritable after work, I am not as good a parent as I like
4. When I get home from work, I often do not have the energy to be a good parent
5. I am a better parent because of my job

Job-leisure conflict items:

1. My job makes it difficult to enjoy my free time outside of work
2. The amount of time I spend working interferes with how much free time I have
3. Worry about my job makes it hard for me to enjoy myself outside of work
4. Because I am often tired after work, I don’t see friends as much as I would like
5. My job doesn’t affect whether I enjoy my free time outside of work

Job-home management conflict items:

1. My job makes it difficult to get household chores done
2. I spend so much time working that I am unable to get much done at home
3. Worrying about my job interferes with my ability to get things done around the house
4. When I get home from my job, I do not have the energy to do work around the house
5. Having a job makes it easier to get my household chores done