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. 2020 Dec 23:11:607294.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.607294. eCollection 2020.

Not Able to Lead a Healthy Life When You Need It the Most: Dual Role of Lifestyle Behaviors in the Association of Blurred Work-Life Boundaries With Well-Being

Helen Pluut  1 , Jaap Wonders  2
Affiliations

Not Able to Lead a Healthy Life When You Need It the Most: Dual Role of Lifestyle Behaviors in the Association of Blurred Work-Life Boundaries With Well-Being

Helen Pluut et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

As there is a growing trend for people to work from home, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this research examines the impact of blurred work-life boundaries on lifestyle and subjective well-being. Our cross-sectional study in the Netherlands demonstrates that heightened levels of blurred work-life boundaries predict negative changes in happiness through enhanced emotional exhaustion. In addition, the findings point to a dual role of lifestyle in this process. On the one hand, we observed that healthy overall lifestyle patterns buffered employees against the detrimental effects of blurred work-life boundaries and emotional exhaustion on happiness. On the other hand, employees who experienced increases in blurring of work-life boundaries reported a deterioration in healthy lifestyle behaviors, which in turn was related to reduced happiness. Paradoxically, it seems that those who would benefit the most from a healthy lifestyle are less able to sustain health-promoting behaviors. A case for shared responsibility between employers and employees is built as we discuss the practical implications of the current research.

Keywords: COVID-19; blurred work-life boundaries; emotional exhaustion; happiness; lifestyle; well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

JW at the time of study was employed by company SMC Rijnland Fysiotherapeuten. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Conceptual model and overview of hypotheses.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Moderating effect of healthy lifestyle index on the relationship between emotional exhaustion and happiness. Simple slopes are presented for conditional values of the moderator at ±1 SD.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Results of moderated mediation analyses for the various lifestyle behaviors using PROCESS model 58. ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Results of serial mediation analyses for the various lifestyle behaviors using PROCESS model 6. ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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