Role Conflict Scale Research Articles

Leadership, organizational stress, and emotional exhaustion among hospital nursing staff.

A questionnaire was sent to all nurses of a university hospital. Usable returns were received from 625 nurses, giving a response rate of 39.2%. Data were treated using correlational analyses and multiple regression. The latter modelled stressors and leadership as predictors of nurses' reported emotional exhaustion. Work stressors were assessed using the Nursing Stress Scale (NSS) which comprises 34 items divided into three subscales (referring to stress from the physical, psychological, and social environment), and the role ambiguity (three items) and conflict (three items) scales. Leadership was measured with the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. In regression analyses, work stressors as a whole were found to explain 22% of the variance in emotional exhaustion whereas leadership dimensions explained 9% of the variance in that outcome measure. Stress emanating from the physical and social environment, role ambiguity, and active management-by-exception leadership were significantly associated with increased levels of emotional exhaustion. Transformational and contingent reward leadership did not influence emotional exhaustion. A limitation of this study is that it considered only the emotional exhaustion dimension of burnout. Also, as data were cross-sectional in nature, conclusions regarding the direction of causality among variables cannot be drawn. This study provided, for the first time, a test of the influence of leadership on burnout among nurses, taking into account the role of work stressors. Future research is needed to examine if the effects reported herein can be replicated using the two other dimensions of burnout (depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment).

Gender Role Conflict in Men as a Predictor of Self-Ratings of Behavior on the Interpersonal Circle

The purpose of the study was to examine men's gender role conflict in relation to self-related behavir on the Interpersonal Circle. One hundred and one, mostly single and Caucasian, college aged men completed the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS) and the Checklist of Interpersonal Transactions-Revised (CLOIT-R). Canonical analyses indicated that two significant roots accounted for 34% of the variance. The first root found success/power/competition to be related to controlling and rigid interpersonal behavior; and the second root found Restrictive Emotionality and Restrictive Affectionate Behavior Between men to be related to hostile and rigid interpersonal behavior. The discussion to uses on implications for interpersonal relationship and psychoterapy for men who rigidly enact stereotypical male gender roles.

Age and gender role conflict: A cross-sectional study of Australian men.

A total of 221 educated middle-class Australian males across three age groups (18–24, 36–45, and 60-plus years), responded to O'Neil et al.'s Gender Role Conflict Scales and a set of measures for psychological well-being. A MANCOVA design, with psychological well-being as the covariate, found significant age differences on two gender-role conflict scales. Results suggest that certain conflicts in a man's life to do with ambition, career, and family may be seen as developmentally functional rather than dysfunctional. No age differences were found on the Gender Role Conflict variables for emotional expressiveness and intimacy between males. These two variables are discussed as a function of mood rather than indices of dysfunction.

Revisiting the structural validity of the Gender Role Conflict Scale.

Revisiting the structural validity of the Gender Role Conflict Scale.

Revisiting the structural validity of the Gender Role Conflict Scale.

Despite masculinity researchers' widespread use of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS; J. M. O'Neil, B. Helms, R. Gable, L. David, & L.Wrightsman, 1986), the structural validity of this instrument has recently been called into question. The authors revisited the status of the GRCS's structural validity via confirmatory factor analyses of both rationally and randomly developed item parcels as well as item-level data in a sample of 702 college men. Results indicated that, consistent with previous research, O'Neil et al.'s hypothesized oblique 4-factor model did not provide a conventionally good tit to the item-level data. However, as expected, superior (and conventionally good) fits to the data resulted when both rational and random parcel-level models were tested. Considered collectively, the results provide strong support for the structural validity of the GRCS and suggest that it is quite appropriate for masculinity researchers to score the GRCS for O'Neil et al.'s 4 factors.

Gender role conflict and psychological well-being among gay men.

The authors used the Gender Role Conflict Scale, Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale, and Hopkins Symptom Checklist to examine the relation of gender role conflict to certain aspects of gay men's (N = 117) psychological experience. Gay men with less gender role conflict had a more positive view of seeking psychological help and reported fewer symptoms of anger, anxiety, and depression. On the basis of these findings, some tentative counseling implications are considered and directions for future research are proposed.

Construct Validity of Rizzo et al.'s (1970) Role Conflict and Ambiguity Scales: A Multisample Study

Construct Validity of Rizzo et al.'s (1970) Role Conflict and Ambiguity Scales: A Multisample Study

Men's gender role conflict and use of psychological defenses.

The authors hypothesized that men would report using psychological defenses to the degree they self-reported masculine gender role conflict. One hundred fifteen men completed the Gender Role Conflict Scale, the Defense Style Questionnaire, and the Defense Mechanism Inventory. Canonical correlations indicated that men experiencing greater rigidity about being successful, powerful, and competitive; expressing emotions; and expressing affection to other men used more immature psychological defenses and some degree of neurotic defenses. More specifically, these men tended to use defenses of turning against object and projection and tended not to use principalization and reversal. The discussion focuses on the effects of male gender role strain, implications for treatment, limitations, and future research. Called the cornerstone on which the structure of psychoanalysis rests (Freud, 1914/1959), psychological defenses are important for understanding development, personality, adaptation, and psychotherapy (Plutchik, 1995). Although gender differences between men and women in the development of psychological defenses are recognized (Bogo, Winget, & Gleser, 1970; Cramer, 1991; Gleser & Ihilevich, 1969; Ihilevich & Gleser, 1993a) and instrumentality and expressivity have been related to psychological defenses (Brems, 1990; Juni & Grimm, 1994; Levit, 1991), the effect of gender role strain (Pleck, 1981, 1995) has not been examined in relation to the development of psychological defenses. Because the male socialization experience is theorized to create negative feelings such as anxiety and shame related to all things feminine, the development of rigid traditional male roles, or male gender role conflict (O'Neil, Helms, Gable, David, & Wrightsman, 1986), may help stave off the negative feelings associated with femininity much in the same way that psychological defenses manage negative affect. As such, men's gender role conflict should be related to psychological mechanisms of defense. If true, knowledge of this relationship would shed light on the protective mechanisms used in the development of gender role conflict patterns and would be helpful to those working with men who enact gender role conflict patterns. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between men's gender role conflict and use of psychological defenses.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Gender Role Conflict Scale: A Cross-validation of Good et al., 1995

This article cross-validates and discusses the Good et al. (1995) confirmatory factor analysis of the Gender Role Conflict Scale.

Interrole Conflict as a Function of Life Stage, Gender, and Gender-Related Personality Attributes

The purpose of the present study was to examine the amount and type of interrole conflict experienced by women and men at different life stages. A battery of questionnaires, including a demographic questionnaire, a role conflict scale, and the Bern Sex Role Inventory was administered to 244 married adults. The sample was primarily Caucasian. Overall, the impact of life stage, gender, and gender-related personality factors on interrole conflict was differentially influenced by the type of conflict assessed. Both women and men experienced the highest amount of conflict involving parent roles during the peak child-rearing years. In addition, employed men experienced a higher degree of interrole conflict between professional versus self roles than employed women. Married men experienced more spouse versus self role conflict than married women. Finally, instrumentality and interpersonal sensitivity proved to be two important predictors of interrole conflict above and beyond life stage and gender effects. Results are discussed in the context of societal changes towards traditional women and men's roles.

Changing men's male gender-role attitudes by applying the elaboration likelihood model of attitude change

The traditional male gender role has been associated with a host of psychological and physical problems. In this study, 118 male university students viewed one of two videotaped interventions based on R. E. Petty and J. T. Cacioppo's [(1986) Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change, New York: Springer-Verlag) elaboration likelihood model of attitude change (ELM) or were in a control group. One intervention was designed to create less traditional male gender-role attitudes, the other to enhance participants' attitudes toward seeking psychological help. Both interventions significantly changed male gender-role attitudes on Brannon Masculinity Scale scores, but not their Gender Role Conflict Scale—I scores, and neither influenced help-seeking attitudes. The overall pattern of scores suggests that men's attitudes about the male role may be less resistant to change than attitudes about one's own gender role or one's fear of femininity.

The Relation Between Masculine Role Conflict and Psychological Distress in Male University Counseling Center Clients

This is the first study to examine the relations between components of masculine gender role conflict and specific symptoms of psychological distress in a sample of men seeking counseling services. One hundred and thirty male clients from 2 university counseling centers completed the Gender Role Conflict Scale and the Symptom Checklist‐90‐Revised. Participants reported moderate to high levels of psychological symptoms, which were correlated with components of masculine role conflict. Results of simultaneous multiple regressions supported previous findings in nonclinical samples of relations between masculine role conflict and depression and interpersonal issues. In addition, masculine role conflict significantly predicted paranoia, psychoticism, and obsessive compulsivity. Implications for counseling and future research are discussed.

African American men's Gender Role Conflict: The significance of racial identity

This study examined the relationships between racial identity attitudes and gender role conflict in a sample of 95 African American men ages 23–80 years old. Participants completed the 1981 Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale by Parham and Helms and the 1986 Gender Role Conflict Scale by O'Neil, Helms, Gable, David, and Wrightsman. Results indicated that racial identity attitudes were differentially related to patterns of gender role conflict when racial identity is externally defined. However, an internally defined racial identity had no relationship to gender role conflict. Results are discussed in terms of the significance of racial identity for understanding African American men's conflict associated with traditional male gender role standards and expectations.

The impact of gender role conflict and counseling technique on psychological help seeking in men

We hypothesized that men's gender role conflict would predict attitudes towards psychological help-seeking after viewing counseling that focused on either client feelings or client cognitions. The sample was made up of 164 male undergraduates: 115 White, 13 African-American, 13 Hispanic, 18 Asian, 2 Portuguese, and 3 of unspecified ethnicity. Participants completed the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS), viewed a videotape of a 10-minute counseling session that used interventions that were either emotion-focused or cognition-focused, and completed a measure of their attitudes towards seeking psychological help. Results indicated that men scoring high on gender role conflict who viewed the session that focused on feelings were least likely to indicate a willingness to seek psychological help compared to men in each of the three other conditions. We discuss implications for counseling interventions for men who adopt the traditional male gender role.

Gender role perceptions and gender role conflicts of middle-class African American men

This study explored the relationship between perceived desirability of certain gender role traits and the experience of gender role conflict in a sample of 95 middle-class African American men. Participants completed the Gender Role Conflict Scale and the Cultural Desirability Scale, a scale developed for the study. Results suggest that middle-class African American men perceive instrumental type gender role traits as important and desirable and expressive type gender role traits as less important or desirable. Additionally, the perceived desirability of gender role traits differentially predicted the patterns of gender role conflict.

Male gender role conflict: Psychometric issues and relations to psychological distress.

Two distinct deficits in research on male gender role conflict are addressed: (a) lack of psychometric information and (b) lack of research involving clinical samples. First, using 1,043 men across three samples, the psychometric properties of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS) were examined through confirmatory factor analyses, internal consistency estimation, and construct validation. Next, using 130 male university counseling center clients across two samples, the relation between gender role conflict and psychological distress was examined. The GRCS demonstrated good internal consistency and was best modeled as 4 intercorrelated factors, as originally proposed by J. M. O'Neil, B. Helms, R. Gable, L. David, and L. Wrightsman (1986). Construct validity was supported through correlations with attitudes about masculinity, fear of intimacy, and social desirability in expected directions. However, reservations about the Conflicts Between Work and Family Relations subscale are noted. Male gender role conflict was significantly related to psychological distress, with the Restrictive Emotionality subscale being the best predictor of distress level. Implications for mental health practice and future research are discussed

Development of a Role Conflict Scale for Clinical Nurses

Development of a Role Conflict Scale for Clinical Nurses

The measurement properties of the role conflict and role ambiguity scales: A review and extension of the empirical research

AbstractThe measurement properties of the Rizzo, House and Lirtzman (1970) role conflict and role ambiguity scales have been debated in the research literature for several years. The criticisms are that the scales do not measure separate constructs and are contaminated by method variance. However, some researchers have presented evidence supporting the scales' continued use as independent measures. We attempted to clarify the running debate by re‐examining these issues and presenting additional data, which focused on the item level of analysis. Using confirmatory factor analyses and item statistics, we show discriminant validity for the role conflict and ambiguity scales across three diverse samples of workers. We also contend that the evidence for method bias is not as strong as previously argued.

Predictors of adult men's gender-role conflict: Race, class, unemployment, age, instrumentality-expressiveness, and personal strain.

Gender-role conflict exists when socialized gender roles result in personal restriction, devaluation, or violation of others or self. This research assesses the ways in which 13 demographic, psychological, and strain variables predict adult men's gender-role conflict. It was hypothesized that these variables would differentially predict four patterns of gender-role conflict that have been documented in earlier research (O'Neil, Helms, Gable, David, & Wfightsman, 1986). Men (N ffi 134) of different ages, races, classes, personality characteristics and work statuses were assessed with the Gender Role Conflict Scale, the Personal Strain Questionnaire, and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Two meaningful and independent male constellations linking 9 of the predictor variables with 3 patterns of gender-role conflict accounted for 88% of the variation in gender-role conflict. Methodological limitations and future research are discussed. Gender-role conflict is defined as a psychological state in which socialized gender roles have negative consequences on a person or on others. The ultimate outcome of this kind of conflict is a restriction of the human potential of the person experiencing the conflict or a restriction of another's potential. Gender-role conflict occurs when rigid, sexist, or restrictive gender roles result in personal restriction, devaluation, or violation of others or self (O'Neil, 1990). Gender-role conflict is important because men's gender roles have been associated with rape (Russell, 1984), family violence (Finn, 1986), and child sexual abuse (Finkelhor, 1984). Limited research exists on correlates of men's gender-role conflict and their impact on men's and women's lives. In the 1980s, numerous measures of gender-role conflict and related concepts were developed. Researchers developed instruments measuring the macho personality (Mosher & Sirkin, 1984), gender-role conflict (O'Neil, Helms, Gable, David, & Wrightsman, 1986), gender-role stress (Eisler & Skidmore, 1987; Eisler, Skidmore, & Ward, 1988), masculine roles (Snell, 1986; Snell, Belk, & Hawkins, 1986), and masculine attitudes (Brannon & Juni, 1984; Downs & Engelson, 1982). These measures give scientific respectability to the study of genderrole conflict in men because empirical data now document that men experience gender-role conflict. Men's studies and

Analysis of role conflict and role ambiguity in a structural equations framework.

In this study a confirmatory methodology was implemented to analyze a model that uses the Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman (1970) scales of role conflict (RC) and role ambiguity (RA; i.e., the Bedeian and Armenakis, 1981, model). The validity of the RC and RA scales were examined through structural equations analysis, and a nested models approach was used to compare the Bedeian and Armenakis model with a model suggesting a more parsimonious representation of the data. Furthermore, path estimates from models incorporating random measurement error were compared with estimates from a model not incorporating the effects of random measurement error