Factor Structure of the Gender Role Conflict Scale in African American and European American Men

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the proposed 4-factor structure of the Gender Role Conflict Scale (GRCS; O'Neil, Helms, Gable, David, & Wrightsman, 1986) provided the best fit to the data for 2 independent samples of 483 European American and 214 African American college men. Using an alternative models approach, results of confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the 4-factor structure provided the better fit for each sample in comparison to the other models tested. In addition, factorial invariance of the 4-factor model was tested and the findings were equivalent across the 2 samples, providing additional evidence that the GRCS measured the same construct across African American and European American men. Despite these results, most fit indexes failed to meet the recommended cutoff values, a finding that is consistent with previous research on the GRCS. African American men reported higher levels of gender role conflict on all factors of the GRCS, and reliability estimates for all scores of the 4 subscales were lower for this sample. Modification of the CRCS items may be warranted.