A psychometric examination of the work-family balance scale. A multisample study on Italian workers

In recent years, work-family balance, as a construct, has been increasingly attracting the scholarly attention alongside with more traditional ones as work-family conflict and enrichment. We aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Work-Family Balance scale (Carlson et al. Human Relations, 20, 1–28, 2009) through two different studies. Study 1 (N = 152) was carried out to verify the construct validity of the scale, while Study 2 (N = 319) was carried out to verify its discriminant validity contrasting it with work-family conflict and enrichment. The results, in line with the hypothesized direction, confirmed the original one-factor structure of the scale via confirmatory factor analysis (Study 1), moreover the correlations with the other two examined constructs were in the hypothesized direction (Study 2): positive with work-family enrichment, and negative with work-family conflict. Practical implications, study limits, and avenues for future research are discussed.