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This study deepens our theoretical and practical understanding of work–family balance, defined as the ‘accomplishment of role-related expectations that are negotiated and shared between an individual and his/her role-related partners in the work and family domains’ (Grzywacz & Carlson, 2007: 458). We develop a new measure of work–family balance and establish discriminant validity between it, work–family conflict, and work–family enrichment. Further, we examine the relationship of work–family balance with six key work and family outcomes. Results suggest that balance explains variance beyond that explained by traditional measures of conflict and enrichment for five of six outcomes tested: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, family satisfaction, family performance, and family functioning. We conclude with a discussion of the applications of our work.

The problem and the solution. Systematic theorizing about work-family balance has not kept pace with interest, which undermines organizations' abilities to effectively monitor work-family balance and to use work-family balance strategically. The goal of this article is to develop a better conceptual understanding of work-family balance. Work-family balance is defined as accomplishment of rolerelated expectations that are negotiated and shared between an individual and his or her role-related partners in the work and family domains. This article elaborates on how this definition of work-family balance addresses limitations of previous conceptualizations and describes areas for human resource development research and implications for using work-family balance strategically in management practice.

Using family resilience theory, this study examined the effects of work‐family conflict and work‐family facilitation on mental health among working adults to gain a better understanding of work‐family fit. Data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) were used to compare different combinations of work‐family conflict and work‐family facilitation. Results suggest that family to work facilitation is a family protective factor that offsets and buffers the deleterious effects of work‐family conflict on mental health. The results across these outcomes suggest that work‐family conflict and facilitation must be considered separately, and that adult mental health is optimized when family to work facilitation is high and family to work and work to family conflict is low.