ABSTRACT Given the declining number of tenure-track positions, the academic job market has become fiercely competitive, often forcing faculty to make difficult choices, including living apart from their partners and children. These individuals become commuting couples, neatly segmenting their professional and personal lives, and thus creating a hyper-separation between work and family. Using work/family border theory as an analytical lens, we draw on interviews with 36 participants who were members of commuting couples to explore how participants fared in this arrangement. Participants discussed how being separated both facilitated their professional productivity and deepened their personal relationships. In short, participants were engaged in an extreme form of work/life balance. We term this phenomenon the hyper-separation of roles, which serves as a mechanism to enact balance.

中文翻译：

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高度分离作为工作/生活平衡的工具：学术界的通勤

摘要 鉴于终身职位数量的下降，学术就业市场竞争异常激烈，常常迫使教师做出艰难的选择，包括与伴侣和孩子分开生活。这些人成为通勤夫妇，巧妙地分割了他们的职业和个人生活，从而在工作和家庭之间造成了高度分离。使用工作/家庭边界理论作为分析镜头，我们对 36 位通勤夫妇的参与者进行了采访，以探讨参与者在这种安排中的表现。参与者讨论了分开如何促进他们的专业生产力并加深他们的人际关系。简而言之，参与者处于工作/生活平衡的极端形式中。我们将这种现象称为角色的高度分离，