More Balanced, Much Younger: The Relationship Between Work-Private Life Balance and Subjective Age

Abstract

In this study, that aims to investigate the relationship between the work life-private life balance and the subjective age perceptions of individuals, based on the Conservation of Resources Theory, it was expected that work-life conflict (WLC) and life-work conflict (LWC) that are the dimensions of work life-private life balance (WLB) would be negatively and significantly related to individuals' levels of feeling younger than their chronological age, and work-life enrichment (WLE) would be related to this variable positively and significantly. The sample consisted of 166 women (54%) and 142 men (46%)-. The mean age of the sample was 41.20 (S=10.19) and the mean of the total working time was 18.04 (S=10.60), 92% of the sample stated that they were working full-time (n=283) and 8% of them were working part-time (n=26). The simple linear regression analyzes supported the hypotheses, and there were findings supporting that WLC and LWC can make individuals feel older than they are, and WLE can make them feel younger. The findings were discussed based on the Conservation of Resources Theory and current research on variables. Finally, practice and future research recommendations were made from the industrial/organizational psychology perspective.