Life Balance Model (LBM)

The Life Balance Model (LBM) focuses on satisfying pattern of healthful, meaningful, and sustainable activities within context of an individual’s current life circumstances. The model purports that the composition of everyday activity should enable people to address these need-based dimensions, they are (1) meeting basic instrumental needs necessary for sustained biological health and physical safety, (2) having rewarding and self-affirming relationships with others, (3) feeling engaged, challenged, and competent, and (4) creating meaning and a positive personal identity. If people are able to engage in configurations of activates that address all these dimensions, they will perceive their lives as more satisfying, less stressful, and more meaningful or balanced. The model focuses on the relationships between activity configurations, the environment, and associated life outcomes. Two large oval shapes (A: congruence and B: equivalence) in the center represent the activity configurations in which people engage. It is expected to vary across people and across situation and time. The focus on activity configurations as the means for meeting important needs differentiates life balance from other positive state constructs, such as happiness and satisfaction with life. Oval A is the actual versus desired time spent on activity, to meet the skill dimension of satisfaction with time management to achieve goals and renewal. Oval B is the time spent on activities that meet each of the four need-based dimensions in health, relationships, challenge, and identity. The ovals are surrounded by a large oval which represents support and barriers of the environment and the dynamic interaction of person and environment. This model suggests that an overlap between the two ovals as they are necessary for a balanced life. Low congruence leads to an imbalanced life. Life balance is expected to relate to lower stress, higher need satisfactory, and higher personal well-being.

Note: In the original model proposed by Matuska and Christiansen (2008), there was a fifth need-based dimension "having organizing the time and energy in ways that enable people to meet important personal goals and renewal". However, in the revised model described in the cited reference here, this fifth dimension has been re-conceptualized as a skill (rather need-based) dimension.