The Development and Validation of the Effort-Reward Imbalance in Grandchild Care Scale

Considering the inconclusive effect of grandchild care on grandparents' well-being, this study aimed to develop an Effort-Reward Imbalance in Grandchild Care Scale (ERI-GCS) to delineate the effect. In Study 1, 422 grandparents rated the 27-item draft ERI-GCS, which supported the ERI model. In Study 2, 397 grandparents participated to validate the construct structure of ERI-GCS. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor model including the two first-order factors of effort and overcommitment that correlate with one second-order reward factor with three first-order factors of intrinsic reward, adult child's recognition, and grandchild's affection. The final 22-item ERI-GCS has good internal consistency, with Cronbach's alphas ranging from 0.78 to 0.89. ERI-GCS shows good convergent validity and criterion validity, indicated by correlations with non-reciprocity relationships and mental health (depressive symptoms, psychological flourishing), respectively. The findings show that the ERI-GCS can reliably measure the effect of effort-reward imbalance on caregiver grandparents' mental health.