Development and Validation of the Sex Role Conflict Scale

Because the authors found previous attempts at measuring sex role conflict to lack rigor in measurement and interpretation, they sought to develop an instrument for objectively measuring this condition. From a study of an initial group of 102 persons and a follow-up group of 556 persons from Western U.S. urban areas, the authors developed a new, 17-item, Likert-type scale, which they call the Sex Role Conflict Scale (SRCS). They employed factor analysis to arrive at the final 17 items used, and conducted studies of the scale's reliability and validity, correlating its results with previously validated measures of role conflict, job satisfaction, job involvement, and propensity to leave. The authors found correlations between their variables and sex role conflict, and recommend the SRCS for measuring the degree of such conflict experienced by both men and women.