Validation of the Hungarian version of Carlson's Work-Family Conflict Scale

Work-family conflict has been associated with adverse individual (e.g., cardiovascular diseases, anxiety disorders), organizational (e.g., absenteeism, lower productivity), and societal outcomes (e.g., increased use of healthcare services). However, lack of standardized measurement has hindered the comparison of data across various cultures. The purpose of this study was to develop the Hungarian version of Carlson et al.'s multidimensional Work-Family Conflict Scale and establish its reliability and validity.

In a sample of 557 employees (145 men and 412 women), we conducted confirmatory factor analysis to investigate the factor structure and factorial invariance of the instrument across sex and data collection points and evaluated the tool's validity by assessing relationships between its dimensions and scales measuring general, marital, and job-related stress, depressive symptomatology, vital exhaustion, functional somatic symptoms, and social support.

Our results showed that a six-factor model, similarly to that of the original instrument, fit the data best. Internal consistency of the six dimensions and the whole instrument was adequate. Convergent and divergent validity of the instrument and discriminant validity of the dimensions were also supported by our data.

This study provides empirical support for the validity and reliability of the Hungarian version of the multidimensional Work-Family Conflict Scale. Deployment of this measure may allow for the generation of data that can be compared to those obtained in different cultural settings with the same instrument and hence advance our understanding of cross-cultural aspects of work-family conflict.