Development of the Family Interference With Leisure Scale on Parents of Children Aged 0–6

Abstract

A newborn in the family results in several life changes, including the emergence and stress of conflicts between family roles and other roles. However, family interference with leisure has not been addressed in the scientific literature yet. The aim of this study was to develop and analyze the psychometric properties of the Family Interference with Leisure Scale (FILS) in a sample of parents of children between 0 and 6 years old. One hundred sixty-four parents of at least one child between 0 and 6 years old participated in this study. Participants completed a self-assessment protocol, which included the FILS, along with measures of parental stress, frequency of leisure activities, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted for the FILS, along with correlational and hierarchical regression analyses between FILS scores and the other variables of the study. The results suggest a unidimensional structure of the FILS, explaining 74% of the variance of family interference with leisure. Good reliability was found (Cronbach’s α = .88). Additionally, results show that higher scores on FILS were associated with higher levels of parental stress, more depressive and anxiety symptoms, and a lower frequency of leisure activities. These findings suggest good psychometric properties of the FILS, endorsing its use for measuring family interference with leisure in parents. In addition, the results suggest that the role conflict between family and leisure activities may play a key role in the understanding of parental stress and parents’ psychological distress.