Circadian rhythms, cyclic fluctuations in many physiological and psychological functions, are thought to influence adjustment to shiftwork. A widely acknowledged individual difference in circadian rhythms, commonly called morningness, indicates preferences associated with morning or evening activities. Various self-report instruments have been developed to measure morningness, although little measurement data have been published for these scales. Because morningness scales are being used to select workers for night shiftwork, psychometric evaluations of these scales are needed. Psychometric assessments of undergraduate responses (N = 501) on three widely used scales indicate internal (interitem) measurement deficiencies in all three. Therefore, a 13-item scale was developed that distills the best items from two of these scales. Relationships between the new composite scale and external criteria are comparable with or stronger than similar relationships between the published scales and external criteria.

Though early research on the work/nonwork interface was broader in scope, most recent research has focused on the interface between work and family. There is a need for an inclusive, validated measure of work/nonwork interference and enhancement that is appropriate for all workers regardless of their marital or family life status. The authors report here on 3 studies in which they develop a theoretically grounded and empirically validated multidimensional, bidirectional measure of work/nonwork interference and enhancement. All scale items refer to work/nonwork, whereas previous measures have mixed work/family and work/nonwork items or emphasize family roles in the nonwork domain. Quantitative analysis of the scale items yielded 17 items to measure work interference with personal life, personal life interference with work, work enhancement of personal life, and personal life enhancement of work. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling results provide evidence for convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity for the scale from 2 large samples of workers (N = 540, N = 384) across multiple job types and organizations.

Withdrawal behaviours (de ned here as turnover and absenteeism) and workrelated injuries are a signi cant problem in the nursing profession and are commonly attributed to the stressful nature of the job. This study examines an occupation-speci c model of the stress process in nurses in which speci c organizational climate dimensions were hypothesized to aVect withdrawal behaviours and injuries both directly and indirectly through the mediating eVects of speci c occupational stressors. Regression analyses on the responses of 252 nurses revealed direct climate-stressor and stressor-outcome relationships to exist, as well as an indirect climate-outcome relationship. The ndings suggest that researchers/practitioners should concentrate on developing interventions designed to aVect speci c stressors and their anteced ents rather than focusing on generic stress reduction interventions and global measures.

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SummarySubjective or perceived control over job-related activities or events is a frequently measured construct in organizational stress research. Karasek (1985) assessed perceived control as both decision authority and skill discretion at work (job decision latitude). Ganster (1989b;Dwyer and Ganster, 1991) developed a multidimensional or general measure of worker control, as well as a speci®c measure of work predictability. Because little published psychometric data exist for these scales, we investigated the item-level measurement properties of Karasek's and Ganster's measures. We hypothesized two separate, two-factor solutions, decision authority and skill discretion, for the job decision latitude scale, and general control and predictability, for the work control scale. The dimensionality of both measures was assessed in multiple, independent samples using con®rmatory factor analyses (LISREL) with maximum likelihood estimation. Simultaneous solutions across samples were used to determine the ®t of the factor models to the data. The hypothesized two-factor solutions were con®rmed for both Karasek's and Ganster's scales, although item re®nement is indicated. We also investigated the relative independence between Karasek's and Ganster's scales and found a lack of independence between the general control and decision authority items in one sample. #

The authors developed and tested a process model of adaptation to shiftwork, which hypothesizes that various individual and situational variables influence the development of sleep and social and domestic disturbances. Both types of disturbances trigger various types of coping behavior, leading to several proximal outcomes. The end result is the development of chronic health problems in the form of digestive and cardiovascular symptoms. The model was tested with survey data collected from 2 samples of nurses (N = 1,532) in the United Kingdom and was cross-validated against a 3rd sample of industrial workers (N = 370). Results indicate support for the model across the 3 samples, although some sample-specific and subgroup effects were found. Results have direct implications for the development of shiftwork theory and interventions.

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Lodahl and Kejner’s Job Involvement (JI) measure has been and continues to be heavily used despite known measurement deficiencies. Using a convergent evidence approach, the authors examine the psychometric properties of that scale and offer a refined version that accurately taps the JI construct. Based on a combination of five methodologies (qualitative content analysis, classical item analyses, item response theory analyses, partial confirmatory factor analyses, and discriminant validity analysis) applied to five samples, results indicate that numerous items function inadequately as indicators of JI, whereas a core of items have superior item statistics and conceptually match the definition of JI. The advantages of using a convergent evidence approach are discussed.