Development of the Inability to Switch off from Work Scale

Abstract

The “inability to switch off from work” — thinking about work during personal lives — is one of the barriers to work-life balance. However, there is a lack of empirical research on the factors, and effective ways to support work-life balance have not been clarified because there is no scale to measure it. This study’s purpose is to develop the “Inability to Switch off from Work Scale.” We conducted a cross-sectional survey and obtained data from 416 full-time employees. The results of factor analysis indicated a three-factor structure consisting of “emotional recall” (α = .89), “work ability pessimism” (α = .94), and “problem solving” (α = .90). There were significant correlations with mental health problems and related concepts: psychological detachment and repetitive negative thinking. The partial correlation with mental health problems was observed even when related concepts were controlled. Furthermore, the results supported the hypothesis about the mediation effects of the “inability to switch off,” between workload and mental health problems. In general, the results support the reliability and construct validity of the new scale.