The ability to work and to love, according to Freud, is what defines a healthy adult.
Work and love have been studied extensively, but usually separately, although recent
attention has been given to how to balance the two. There has been little research,
however, that focuses on the relationship of one domain to the other. The purpose of
this study was to uncover the ways in which work and love relate in adult life.
Qualitative data were collected from 405 adults who charted their assessment, by
year, of their work and loverelated life events. These data were augmented with data
from 19 in-depth interviews. Three distinct relational patterns (parallel,
steady/fluctuating, and divergent) of work and love were uncovered.
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