The total workload of parents employed in white-collar jobs: Construction of a questionnaire and a scoring system

Recent research on stress and health of employed women underscores the importance of taking their total workload into account, i.e., the combined load of paid work and unpaid duties, mostly related to home and family. The aim of the present study was to develop and psychometrically evaluate a questionnaire for assessing the characteristics and perceived load from paid work, household duties, child care, other responsibilities, time spent on the different duties, and positive and negative aspects of the total work situation. The questionnaire was mailed to stratified samples of parents (1025 males, 1025 females) employed in white-collar jobs. Criteria for inclusion were age 32–58, at least one child under 18 living at home, and full-time employment (at least 35 hours/week). Answers to 134 questions from 356 women and 509 men were submitted to factor analysis. 17 primary and 3 secondary factors (indices) were identified within the areas of paid job descriptors, personal control, workload, and qualification. Internal consistency reliabilities ranged from 0.70 to 0.92 (with one exception). It was concluded that the questionnaire provides a reliable tool for the study of stress-related aspects of the total workload of male and female white collar workers.