by John West

Scientific evidence on balance

analysis
Feb 20, 20071 min

<p>A new study co-sponsored by the Center for Creative Leadership published in the January edition of the Journal of Applied Psychology finds that being committed to family not only increases a person's overall well-being, it also improves a leader's skills at work.</p>

Reader Karen M. has been following the last few stories on balance, and sent me a note pointing to a batch of new supporting scientific evidence in favor of balance. One form of it anyway: taking care of a family.

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) and Clark University published the results of their work and family study in January’s Journal of Applied Psychology. From the short article on their website:

“Based on previous research, we were fairly confident that our study would confirm that being committed to family increases a person’s overall well-being. But our study shows for the first time that being a committed parent can improve a manager’s work performance,” said [Dr. Marian Ruderman of the CCL], a research director at CCL. “Raising a family helps develop skills such as negotiating, compromising, conflict resolution and multitasking, which are important traits of successful managers.”

I can’t find a link to the full study, so you’ll have to head down to your local library if you want to know more.