Few studies have jointly examined the development of love and work in emerging adulthood and even less so in the majority world. This article provides data about how love and work are related within each domain, across domains, and to life satisfaction in emerging adults from an understudied ecology, Argentina. For this purpose, 272 randomly selected Argentineans reported on romantic relationships, work satisfaction, and life satisfaction at age 23 and 27. On both occasions, satisfaction in the romantic domain was a better predictor of concurrent life satisfaction than work. At age 23, love but not work added modestly to the prediction of life satisfaction 4 years later. A much stronger stability was found in love than in work domain. Consistent with the segmentation model, but not with the spillover model, no cross-domain associations were detected over time. Results are discussed in light of important features of the Argentinean macrosystem.
ArnettJ. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469–480.
2.
ArnettJ. J. (2004). Emerging adulthood. The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
3.
BlusteinD. L. (2008). The role of work in psychological health and well-being: A conceptual, historical, and public policy perspective. American Psychologist, 63, 228–240.
4.
BronfenbrennerU.MorrisP. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In LernerR. (Ed.), DamonW.LernerR.(Editors-in-chief),Theoretical models of human development. Volume 1. Handbook of child psychology (pp. 993–1028). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
5.
CarverK.JoynerK.UdryJ. R. (2003). National estimates of adolescent romantic relationships. In FlorsheimP. (Ed.), Adolescent romantic relationships and sexual behavior: Theory, research, and practical implications (pp. 291–329). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
6.
DemirM. (2008). Sweetheart you really make me happy: Romantic relationship quality and personality as predictors of happiness among emerging adulthood. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 257–277.
7.
Deutsche Bank. (1993). La juventud argentina (Argentinian Youth). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Planeta.
8.
Deutsche Bank. (1999). Jóvenes hoy (Youth today). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Planeta.
9.
DienerE.EmmonsR. A.LarsenR. J.GriffinS. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.
10.
DienerE.GohmC. L.SuhE.OishiS. (2000). Similarity of the relations between marital status and subjective well-being across cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31, 419–436.
11.
DushC. M. K.AmatoP. R. (2005). Consequences of relationship status and quality for subjective well-being. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 22, 607–627.
12.
EriksonE. (1950/1968). Identity, youth and crisis. New York, NY: Norton.
13.
FacioA.ResettS. (2009, July). Happy emerging adults in Argentina: How do they make it?Paper presented at the 11 European Congress of Psychology, Oslo, Norway.
14.
FacioA.ResettS.MicocciF. (2010, March). Romantic partners, parents and friends: Relationship change and stability in emerging adulthood. Paper presented at the 13 Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting, Philadelphia, PA.
15.
FacioA.ResettS.MicocciF.MistrorigoC. (2007). Emerging adulthood in Argentina: An age of diversity and possibilities. Child Development Perspectives, 1, 115–118.
16.
FinchmanD.CuisM. (2011). Emerging adulthood and romantic relationships. An introduction. In FinchamF. D.CuiM. (Eds.), Romantic relationships in emerging adulthood (pp. 3–12). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
17.
FouadN. A.BynnerJ. (2008). Work transitions. American Psychologist, 63, 241–251.
18.
FurmanW.BuhrmesterD. (1992). Age and sex differences in perceptions of networks of personal relationships. Child Development, 63, 103–115.
19.
GeorgellisY.LangeT. (2012). Traditional versus secular values and the job–life satisfaction relationship across Europe. British Journal of Management, 23, 437–454.
20.
GustavsonK.RøysambabE.von SoestabcT.HellandM.MathiesenK. (2012). Longitudinal associations between relationship problems, divorce, and life satisfaction: Findings from a 15-year population-based study. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7, 188–197.
21.
HowardA.GalambosN.KrahnH. (2010). Paths to success in young adulthood from mental health and life transitions in emerging adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 34, 538–546.
22.
JudgeT. A.KlingerR. (2008). Job satisfaction: Subjective well-being at work. In EidM.LarsenR. J. (Eds.), The science of subjective well-being (pp. 393–413). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
23.
JudgeT. A.WatanabeS. (1993). Another look at the job satisfaction-life satisfaction relationship. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 939–948.
24.
JudgeT. A.WatanabeS. (1994). Individual differences in the nature of the relationship between job and life satisfaction. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 67, 101–107.
25.
KatzJ.BeachS. (1997). Self-verification and depressive symptoms in marriage and courtship: A multiple pathway model. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59, 903–914.
26.
LucasR.ClarkA.GeorgellisY.DienerE. (2004). Unemployment alters the set-point for life satisfaction. Psychological Science, 15, 8–13.
27.
MortimerJ. T.VuoloM.StaffJ.WakefieldS.XieW. (2008). Tracing the timing of “career” acquisition in a contemporary youth cohort. Work and Occupations, 35, 44–84.
28.
OysermanD.CoonH.KemmelmeierM. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 3–73.
29.
PavotW.DienerE. (2008). The satisfaction with life scale and the emerging construct of life satisfaction. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 3, 137–152.
30.
ReisH. T. (2001). Relationship experiences and emotional well-being. In RyffC. D.SingerB. H. (Eds.), Emotion, social relationships and health (pp. 57–86). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
31.
RiceR. W.NearJ. P.HuntR. G. (1980). The job satisfaction\life satisfaction relationship: A review of empirical research. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 1, 37–64.
32.
RoismanG. I.MastenA. S.CoatsworthJ. D.TellegenA. (2004). Salient and emerging developmental tasks in the transition to adulthood. Child Development, 75, 123–133.
33.
Seiffge-KrenkeI. (2003). Testing theories of romantic development from adolescence to young adulthood: Evidence of a developmental sequence. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 519–531.
34.
SkorikovV. B.VondracekF. W. (2011). Occupational identity. In SchwartzS. J.LuyckxK.VignolesV. L. (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 692–714). New York, NY: Springer.
35.
ShulmanS.DicksonD.LaursenB. (2014). Romantic experiences, work experiences and individual adjustment across emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood.
36.
TovW.DienerE. (2007). Culture and subjective well-being. In KitayamaS.CohenD. (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 691–713). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
