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There are arguably great benefits when employees experience a sense of meaning across life domains. The current study examined whether meaningfulness of work and family predicts one’s tendency to manage work/life outcomes. A total of 386 participants reported the sense of meaningfulness they derived from work and family responsibilities. Analyses explored how individuals’ relative ratings of work and family meaningfulness, as well as the similarity of these perceptions with those of their partners, affect work-family conflict, balance, and enrichment. Results showed that meaningfulness of work influences all work-family outcomes while intra-personal congruence in work and home predicts more work enrichment of family and less strain-based work-family conflict. Congruence between partners work meaning further predicted less strain and behavior based work-family conflict and less work-family balance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and future directions offered.

This study was undertaken to identify the role of six facets of trait-emotional intelligence (EI) in men’s aggressive tendencies toward intimate partners (N = 131). Consistent with past research, hierarchical regression showed emotional self-regulation and empathy were negatively and uniquely predictive of four self-reported aggressive tendencies: physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility. Canonical correlations yielded two distinct patterns of relationships between EI and aggressive tendencies. The first canonical correlation supported an overall negative relationship, especially involving dependent variables anger and hostility. A second canonical correlation revealed higher physical and verbal aggression were associated with higher emotional self-recognition, regulation of others’ emotions, nonverbal emotional expression, and lower empathy. Findings support a multidimensional understanding of EI and aggressive tendencies.