Revisiting the Structural Validity of the Gender Role Conflict Scale

Despite masculinity researchers' widespread use of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS; J. M. O'Neil, B. Helms, R. Gable, L. David, & L.Wrightsman, 1986), the structural validity of this instrument has recently been called into question. The authors revisited the status of the GRCS's structural validity via confirmatory factor analyses of both rationally and randomly developed item parcels as well as item-level data in a sample of 702 college men. Results indicated that, consistent with previous research, O'Neil et al.'s hypothesized oblique 4-factor model did not provide a con- ventionally good fit to the item-level data. However, as expected, superior (and conventionally good) fits to the data resulted when both rational and random parcel-level models were tested. Considered collectively, the results provide strong support for the structural validity of the GRCS and suggest that it is quite appropriate for masculinity researchers to score the GRCS for O 'Neil et al.'s 4 factors.