A questionnaire assessing various aspects of paid as well as unpaid forms of productive activity was mailed to stratified samples of male and female white collar workers, approximately matched for educational and occupational level. Data from 501 men and 679 women employed full time revealed traditional gender differences in terms of main responsibility for household duties, child care etc. In keeping with this, women reported higher levels of work overload, stress and conflict than men, which increased significantly with the number of children at home. The various stress indices reached a peak between the ages of 35 and 39. Men reported more autonomy in their paid work whereas women reported more control at home. Men and women at the upper managerial levels reported more control over their total work situation and less conflict between demands.

The construct validity of the Swedish Enlistment Battery (SEB) used for classification of conscripts according to intellectual capacity was examined. The covariance matrices of three samples of conscripts ( N = 501, 1058 and 1057) were analysed in Study 1, testing the hypothesis of one general factor influencing all the four subtests and one residual factor General visualization (Gu') influencing two of the subsets. The fit of such a model was good.In Study 2 seven reference tests were added to accomplish better definitions of the factors and also to be able to identify a crystallized intelligence (Gc') factor. Subjects were 113 national servicemen. A general factor was identified, accounting for the dominating part of the total variance. Two factors orthogonal to the general factor were identified; one crystallized-verbal (Gc') and one general visualization (Go') factor, both accounting for a significant but low part of the total variance. More tests must be developed and brought into use in the Enlistment Battery in order to add to the variances in the Gu' and Gc' factors. This is a prerequisite for high determinacy and high differential predictive validities of the factors.

Lundberg, U. & Frankenhaeuser, M. (1991). The total workload of parents employed in white-collar jobs: construction of a questionnaire and a scoring system. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 32, 233-239.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 hourslweek). 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. Key wordr:Paid and unpaid work, role conflicts, factor analysis, workload indices. B. Mirdberg, National Defence Research Establidunent, S-651 80 Karlstad, SwedenA key notion in the biopsychosocial approach to stress and health (Frankenhaeuser, 1981(Frankenhaeuser, , 1986 is that a moderately intense and vaned input from the environment is a prerequisite for individual wellbeing, efficiency and good health. Overstimulation occurs when the demands exceed the individual's resources, understimulation when tasks are monotonous, repetitive and too simple. Situations characterized by a balance between external demands and personal ability are perceived as challenging, evoke satisfaction, and even joy despite heavy demands. Personal control, ability to predict and plan ahead as well as social support, further strengthen the individual's ability to cope with heavy demands (Gardell & Johansson, 1981; House et a/., 1988;Folkman, 1984). Kahn (1984) introduced the term productive activity, which takes into account both paid employment and unpaid productive work, e.g., housework and child care. Unpaid work has by tradition generally been performed by women and, in consistency with this, a study (Kahn, in press) of men and women showed that men generally spend more hours in paid work, women more in unpaid, and that women's total productive activity is markedly higher throughout the life cycle.The significance of this research area for the understanding of stress-related health risks has been highlighted in a series of recent studies. Thus, Frankenhaeuser et al. (1989) found th...

Modern computer technology permits efficient evaluation of test scores in terms of basic orthogonal factors of ability. A three-level hierarchical model of cognitive abilities was used as the theoretical basis of the computerized Swedish Enlistment Battery (CAT-SEB). Structural analysis of ten ability tests on a sample of 1,436 conscripts by confirmatory factor analysis (tested by the LISREL system) revealed a general, a verbal and a spatial factor ± although the determinacy of the latter was weak. A nested factor model was used, with direct influences of the latent variables on the tests. This result is a construct validity evaluation of the testing system. Unrelated factor scores of the three latent variables comprise the output of the testing system. Future research should evaluate the efficiency of the prediction from the latent variables.

Surveys investigated the perceived threat of radioactive fallout and public coping following a "silent disaster" (Chernobyl) across Europe. Survey data from national representative samples in 12 European countries are compiled, 6 months and 2 years after the accident, across 12 countries. Exposure to information about the accident, and perception of the consequences of Chernobyl as a health threat, were significantly related to the level of fallout in each country. Another significant relationship was found between the level of fallout in these 12 countries and the proportion of respondents who reported having taken countermeasures. Information challenges for the authorities are highlighted.