Boundary Management: A Time-Sampling Study on Managing Work and Private Life in Middle Adulthood

How do middle-age adults in the rush hour of life manage the demands of pursuing multiple goals in different life domains? A 20-day measurement burst study (N = 89 employed adults, M-age = 42) investigated the occurrence and consequences of integration and incongruity of work, family, and leisure in the everyday lives of middle-age adults. Results suggest that subjective well-being and goal relations (lower conflict, higher facilitation among goals) profit from an integration of multiple life domains. In contrast, incongruity between content (activities, thoughts) and context (location) seems to be detrimental for subjective-well being and goal relations of middle-age adults.