Women's Role Strain Research Articles

Restless sleep and emotional wellbeing among European full-time dual-earner couples: gendered impacts of children and workplace demands

ABSTRACT Role strain theory illuminates how work and family impinge on our intimate lives in gendered ways. Drawing upon data from the 2012 European Social Survey, we estimate structural equation models to understand the links between work and family conditions on full-time dual-earning couples’ restless sleep and emotional wellbeing. Our results show that young children (aged two or under) disrupt full-time working mothers’ but not full-time working fathers’ sleep, improving emotional wellbeing for fathers but not mothers. Compared to men, women report a significantly larger association between work hour dissatisfaction and restless sleep, probably highlighting the more time strain they experience due to their family responsibility on top of their full-time work. These gender gaps are the most pronounced among those couples working longest hours, suggesting that when inter-role strain intensifies for both partners, women suffer disproportionately. Collectively, our findings identify significant and gendered consequences of childcare and workplace demands and spotlight restless sleep as a key mechanism linking women's role strain to poor emotional wellbeing.

Scale for Measuring Role Strain in Women With Diabetes: Development and Psychometric Testing of the Chinese Version.

Women with diabetes (type 1 and type 2) have excessive risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared with men with diabetes, so optimizing diabetes control is crucial for women to reduce this risk. Women with diabetes experience role strain, and a scale to measure role strain in the context of diabetes control could help healthcare providers improve diabetes control in women with diabetes. The aims of the study were to develop a short-form scale for measuring role strain in Taiwanese women with diabetes and test its psychometric properties. This study was conducted from October 2018 to May 2019 and used a cross-sectional design. Based on literature reviews and results of focus groups, a 28-item role strain scale was developed and administered to 519 women with diabetes in Taiwan. Item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, concurrent validity, and reliability testing were used to examine the psychometric characteristics of the scale. A 9-item role strain scale including subscales for role guilt and role conflict, supported by exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, was produced. High role strain significantly correlated with high depression (r = 0.399, P < .001) and high hemoglobin A1c levels (r = 0.169, P < .001). The overall and subscale Cronbach's α ranged between 0.78 and 0.86, with test-retest reliability ranging between 0.64 and 0.81. The role strain scale for women with diabetes is reliable and valid and can be used to evaluate role strain in women with diabetes.

Assessing cross-cultural validity of scales: A methodological review and illustrative example

In this article, we assessed the cross-cultural validity of the Women's Role Strain Inventory (WRSI), a multi-item instrument that assesses the degree of strain experienced by women who juggle the roles of working professional, student, wife and mother. Cross-cultural validity is evinced by demonstrating the measurement invariance of the WRSI. Measurement invariance is the extent to which items of multi-item scales function in the same way across different samples of respondents. We assessed measurement invariance by comparing a sample of working women in Taiwan with a similar sample from the United States. Structural equation models (SEMs) were employed to determine the invariance of the WRSI and to estimate the unique validity variance of its items. This article also provides nurse-researchers with the necessary underlying measurement theory and illustrates how SEMs may be applied to assess cross-cultural validity of instruments used in nursing research. Overall performance of the WRSI was acceptable but our analysis showed that some items did not display invariance properties across samples. Item analysis is presented and recommendations for improving the instrument are discussed.

The women's role strain inventory: A Chinese translation and psychometric analyses for Taiwanese women

Background To date, there is no instrument that measures role strain experienced by Chinese speaking women engaged in multiple roles of working professionals, and wife/mother. Objectives The objectives of this study were to: (1) translate the women's role strain inventory (WRSI) into Chinese; (2) compare the translated version (WRSI-C) to the original English version of the instrument to measure role strain of women who are engaged in multiple roles; and (3) complete a psychometric evaluation of the (WRSI-C) Chinese version of the WRSI in this different culture. Participants Taiwanese women ( N=448) working as professional nurses, attending classes, and maintaining family responsibilities provided the data. Method Reliability of the WRSI-C was compared to the English version by comparing Cronbach's alpha coefficients. Test–retest reliability was assessed using intra-class and Spearman correlations. Validity of the WRSI-C (long form) was assessed using exploratory factor analyses. Results The WRSI-C was found to be both reliable and valid. Conclusions The reliability and validity of the WRSI-C appeared to be consistent across English and Taiwanese samples.

The Relationship of Women's Role Strain to Social Support, Role Satisfaction, and Self‐Efficacy*

The relationship of social support, role satisfaction, and self‐efficacy to measures of role strain was explored in a sample of 129 married, employed women with at least 1 preschool‐aged child. Self‐efficacy in work and parental roles proved to be a significant predictor of these women's work‐family conflict and role overload, respectively. In addition, satisfaction with their child care was related to significantly less anxiety about being separated from their young children. Spousal and supervisor support also accounted for significant variation in work‐family conflict, but the impact of organizational support on role conflict was fully mediated by job self‐efficacy.

A Reliability and Validity Study of the Women’s Role Strain Inventory

The purpose of this study was to theoretically conceptualize, develop and test the Women's Role Strain Inventory (WRSI) which assesses role strain in women who have multiple roles. There is limited research published related to role strain of women, although role strain, role conflict and role stress have been documented to have negative and positive effects (Hall 1975, Hall 1992). The theoretical basis for this study is based upon Goode's Theory of Role Strain (1960) and Sieber's Theory of Role Accumulation (1974). The pilot consisted of 62 female nurses, and the sample used for construct validity consisted of 445 female nurses. Content validity resulted in a content validity index of (.91). Exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation resulted in a three-factor solution supporting Goode's (1960) theory of role strain, and Sieber's (1974) theory of role accumulation. Alpha coefficients for the three subscales were .89 (role distress), .86 (role enhancement), and .81 (role support). Internal consistency of .93 was achieved for the overall WRSI. Test-retest coefficients ranged from .61 to .91. The high reliability and validity of the WRSI make it a reliable and valid instrument to measure role strain of women.

Contributions of a supportive work environment to parents' well-being and orientation to work.

Examined the joint and unique contributions of informal social support in the workplace and formal, family-responsive benefits and policies provided by employers to the job-related attitudes and personal well-being of employed parents with a young child. Eighty married men, 169 married women, and 72 single women with a preschool child completed a survey concerning social support from co-workers and supervisor, utilization of family-responsive benefits and policies, readiness to leave the employer for additional benefits, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, role strain, and health symptoms. Among the findings: (a) Fathers and mothers expressed equal levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, but mothers reported more role strain and health symptoms; (b) nearly 48% of married women's organizational commitment was accounted for by measures of support in the workplace; (c) informal social support at work was significantly more important to men's well-being than that of women; and (d) formal, family-responsive policies appeared more consequential for the prediction of women's role strain, perhaps because of women's greater responsibility for adjusting work life to meet the demands of family roles.