







































Humanitas: Indonesian Psychological Journal  

Vol. 21 (1), February 2024, 77-90 

ISSN:  2598-6368(online); 1693-7236(print)                                                                 

       humanitas@psy.uad.ac.id             http://journal1.uad.ac.id/index.php/Humanitas            https://doi.org/10.26555/humanitas.v21i1.382 

The relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance: The 

mediation role of emotional regulation 

Tis'a Muharrani, Rahmi Lubis, Suryani Hardjo 

Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Medan Area, Indonesia 
Corresponding author: rahmilubis@staff.uma.ac.id 

 

This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license. 

 

Introduction 

One of the professional jobs available in the service sector is air traffic controller (ATC). 
According to ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) in Annex 11, air traffic 
control officers provide service that aims to prevent collisions between aircraft and aircraft 
and other objects in the maneuver area as well as expedite and maintain smooth air traffic. In 
Indonesia, ATC officers work under the Public Corporation (Perum) of the Indonesian 
Navigation Service Provider, better known as AirNav Indonesia. To maintain the ability and 
performance of an ATC while working, the company routinely conducts evaluations 
regulated by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulations.  

The regulation controls the validity period of licenses, setting maximum working hours, 
working shift patterns, work positions, validity periods for medical documents, validity 
periods for ICAO English Language Proficiency (IELP) competencies, and rating validity 
periods (ICAO, 1993). ATC officers who work at airports that provide 24-hour non-stop 

ARTICLE  INFO 

 

ABSTRACT  

 

Article history 

Received March 10, 2023 

Revised August 12, 2023 

Accepted December 26, 2023 

 Air Traffic Controller (ATC) is one of the occupations in the service 
sector. ATC, like other jobs, has other social tasks outside of work 
that require the ability to balance work and family or personal and 
social responsibilities (i.e., work-life balance).  This research aims to 
test the role of emotional regulation in mediating the relationship 
between mindfulness and work-life balance among ATC officers. 
This research was conducted quantitatively.  The data was collected 
through the work-life balance, emotion regulation, and mindfulness 
scales and was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) 
operated through the JASP program version 16. 172 employees (59% 
males) involved in this research. Results showed that emotional 
regulation significantly mediates the relationship between 
mindfulness and work-life balance. This indicates that ATC officers 
with a mindful condition will consciously be able to direct their 
attention to focus on the current situation and role. This will affect 
ATC's ability to manage cognitively to provide emotional responses 
and express emotions according to the needs of the current situation 
in completing the role at hand and achieving work-life balance. This 
finding has implications on how management might assist ATC 
officers in improving work-life balance by enhancing emotional 
regulation skills and mindfulness. 

 

    

 
Keywords 

work-life balance;  

mindfulness; 

emotion regulation; 

air traffic controller. 

 

 

mailto:humanitas@psy.uad.ac.id
http://journal1.uad.ac.id/index.php/Humanitas
https://doi.org/10.26555/humanitas.v21i1.382
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Tis'a Muharrani et.al (The relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance…) 

service are subject to a shift work pattern that is inseparable from the provisions stipulated in 
KP 287 of 2015.  They also have to work in a specific work schedule comprising three shifts: 
morning, afternoon, and evening, which makes them prone to having problems managing 
work-life balance (Pearson, 2015). 

As an individual, an ATC officer has other social roles outside of work. This role 
includes interactions with family, association with friends, and the community in the 
surrounding environment. An ATC officer can act as husband, wife, father, mother, child, or 
as a member of the community or group in the neighbourhood where he lives. These roles 
have different demands and obligations. Sometimes, those can go hand in hand, but they can 
also conflict with each other. This can become a problem when an ATC cannot balance their 
work with family or social environment demands.  

Work-life balance is an effort made by an individual to balance the two or more roles 
he or she is serving (Fisher et al., 2009). According to Fisher et al. (2009), work-life balance 
is defined as a multidimensional construct of the use of time, energy, goal achievement, and 
tension in work and personal life. Fisher established four dimensions of work-life balance: 
work interference with personal life, personal life interference with work, work enhancement 
of personal life, and personal life enhancement of work. According to Poulose (2014), one 
factor influencing work-life balance is an individual's adaptive ability to recognize, express, 
regulate, and manage emotions in oneself and others. Researchers found that emotion 
regulation is useful for carrying out work effectively. Happy employees tend to have a 
positive work attitude, don't withdraw, and show productive work behaviour; they also 
become more successful than unhappy employees (Kassem & Kelly, 1970). Based on the 
results of a survey conducted on 72 ATC officers, 69.44% of them found it difficult to control 
their emotions. They also admit that they often feel restless, anxious, and unfocused at work 
and, at the same time, have to think about other roles outside of work that have not been 
completed. Facing those conditions, emtional regulation is an important skill for ACT officers 
to help them manage their job and personal lives.  

Emotion regulation is a person's ability to assess, overcome, manage, and express 
appropriate emotions in order to achieve emotional balance. A high ability to manage 
emotions will enable individuals to deal with tension in their lives (Gross, 2014). According 
to Gross (2015), inappropriate emotional responses can lead individuals in the wrong 
direction. When emotions seem inappropriate to certain situations, individuals often try to 
regulate emotional responses so that these emotions can be more useful for achieving goals. 
Thus, we need a strategy that can be applied to deal with emotional situations in the form of 
emotional regulation that can reduce the experience of negative emotions and maladaptive 
behavior (Gross, 2015). Gross describes emotion regulation in the form of strategy, among 
others cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression (Gross & John, 2003). 

According to Luberto et al. (2018), effective emotion regulation focuses on an 
individual's ability to regulate, restrain, and remove negative emotions that arise effectively. 
This ability can be increased through mindfulness. Mindful individuals are able to observe 
and assess the emotions they feel. Individuals are also more prepared to deal with unpleasant 
experiences (Roemer et al., 2015). Mindfulness causes individuals to be able to regulate 
emotions by the attention given to the individual's experience along with acceptance of the 
experience (Yusainy et al., 2019). Brown and Ryan (2003) define mindfulness as the presence 
of awareness that is inherent and involves experience from moment to moment. According to 
Baer et. al. (2006), mindfulness is an increase in full awareness by focusing on current 
experiences (present-moment awareness) and acceptance without making a judgment 
(nonjudgemental acceptance). Mindfulness emphasizes awareness, making the individual 
fully aware of what is happening in the present moment. Brown and Ryan (2003) divided 
mindfulness into two aspects: attention and awareness. Conceptually, mindfulness is defined 
as increasing awareness and focusing on the "now and here" condition, which is carried out 
purposefully and non-judgmentally (Kabat-Zinn, 2018). Mindful individuals are able to 



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     Tis'a Muharrani et.al (The relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance…)  

observe and assess the emotions they feel as well as deal with unpleasant experiences 
(Roemer et al., 2015). 

Awareness of the emotions felt will increase if the individual has good mindfulness. 
With good emotional awareness, individuals can regulate emotions effectively so that they 
can reduce aggressiveness (Thohar, 2022). It is also predicted that difficulties in regulating 
emotions can hinder individual responses to situations due to increased negative emotions 
and a tendency to daydream. Individuals will find it difficult to focus attention, have difficulty 
thinking and acting, and have difficulty controlling themselves (Lokita et al., 2021). 
Mindfulness also can improve individual work-life balance. Past research found that 
individuals who practice mindfulness are satisfied with work-life balance (Althammer et al., 
2021). A study proved that individuals who do mindfulness activities for only five to ten 
minutes will have better health, including cognitive, neurological and emotional aspects and 
make positive changes to their well-being (Grunwald, 2018). Thus, we expected that higher 
mindfulness would be related to a work-life balance and that the relationship would be 
mediated by emotional regulation.  

Research on work-life balance among ATC officers is scarce, while research into it is 
very important as this profession is associated with a high level of focus and awareness. That 
way, this research will be important to help ATC officers and management develop strategies 
to improve work-life balance so that ATC officers can overcome obstacles that arise in work 
situations and the demands of the family and social environment.Thus, this study aimed to 
examine the role of emotional regulation in mediating the relationship between mindfulness 
and work-life balance in air traffic controllers. 

Method 

Participants 

Table 1 
The Distribution of Study Participants 

   Frequency Percentage 

Gender     

Male   102 59.3% 

Female   70 40.7% 

Age     

26-30 years old   57 33.1% 

31-40 years old   88 51.2% 

41-50 years old   21 12.2% 

>50 years old   6 33.5% 

Education level 

High School 

  1 0.6% 

D2   12 1.2% 

D3   99 57.6% 

D4   7 4.1% 

S1   56 32.6% 

S2   7 4.1% 



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Table 1 
(continued) 

   Frequency Percentage 
Work period     

<10 years   113 65.7% 

11-20 years   30 17.4% 

21-30 years   25 14.5% 

>30 years   4 2.3% 

Marital status     

Married   153 89% 

Not married   9 11% 

Married period     

<10 years   138 80.2% 

11-20 years   19 11% 

21-30 years   13 7.6% 

>30 years   2 1.2% 

 
The population in this study were all ATC at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, 

totalling 368 people. The sample in this study amounted to 172 employees (59% males) who 
were chosen through a simple random sampling technique.  The majority of the participants 
have worked for 1 to 10 years, are between the ages of 31 and 40 years, have a diploma level 
of education and have been married for 1 to 10 years. See Table 1. 

Instruments  

This research used quantitative methods. Data was collected through scales with a Likert 

format. The scale used were the work-life balance scale compiled by Gunawan (2019) 

consists of 17 items. This scale aims to measure the dimensions of work-life balance 

proposed by Fisher (2009) including work interference with personal life, personal life 

interference with work, work enhancement of personal life, and personal life enhancement 

of work. The distribution of the items are showed in Table 2. High and low reliability 

empirically indicated by a number called the value of the reliability. Reliability value of the 

work life balance scale indicated by CR values of 0.976 and VE 0.707, which means that the 

work life balance scale is classified as reliable (Gunawan, 2019). 

 

Table 2 

Distribution of Work-Life Balance Scale Items 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Note: WIPL= work interference with personal life; PLIW= personal life interference with work; WEPL = 

work enhancement of personal life; PLEW= personal life enhancement of work. 

 

 

No 

 

Dimensions 

Number of items 

 

 

Total 

Favourable Unfavourable 

1. WIPL - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 5 

2. PLIW - 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 6 

3. WEPL 12, 13, 14 - 3 

4. PLEW 15, 16, 17 - 3 

Total  6 11 17 



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The emotion regulation scale was compiled by Radde et al. (2021). This scale consists 
of 10 items that aim to measure the aspects of emotion regulation proposed by Gross & John 
(2003), including cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. The distribution of the 
items is displayed in Table 3. The reliability test showed an α value of 0.790 (Radde et al., 
2021). 

 

Table 3 

Distribution of Emotion Regulation Scale Items 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Fourteen items of mindfulness scale aims to measure mindfulness aspects which 

includes attention and awareness was used in this research. The scale was proposed by Brown 
and Ryan (2003) and adapted by researchers into Indonesian. The internal consistency (alpha) 
was 0,82 (Brown & Ryan, 2003). The The distribution of the items is presented in Table 4.  

 All scales were distributed to 172 participants who agreed to be involved in this 
research by signed in the informed consent. We also provided information related to the scale 
being distributed. After that, we carried out the scoring process on the scale that has been 
completed. 
 
Table 4 

Distribution of Mindfulness Scale Items 

  Favourable Unfavourable  

1. Attention 11 2,3,4,5,6,8,13 8 

2. Awareness 12 1,7,9,10,14 6 

Total  2 12 14 

 

Table 5  

Goodness-of-Fit Index 

 

No 

 

Aspect 

Number of items  

Total 
Favourable Unfavourable 

1. Cognitive 

reappraisal 

1,2,3,4,5,6 - 6 

2. Expressive 

suppression 

7,8,9,10 - 4 

Total 10 - 10 

 

No 

 

Aspect 

Nomor Aitem  

Total 

No 
The Goodness of 

the Fit Index 
Cut off Value 

1 X2chi-square ≤ α.df (less than Chi-square table) 

2 Probability ≥ 0,05 

3 GFI ≥ 0,90 

4 AGFI ≥ 0,90 

5 CFI ≥ 0,95 

6 TLI ≥ 0,95 

7 CMIN/DF ≤ 2,0 

8 RMSEA ≤ 0,08 



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Data Analysis 

To test the hypothesis, we used the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) which was operated 

through the JASP program version 16. Modelling research through SEM allows a researcher 

to measure the indicators of a concept and measure the influence or degree of relationship 

between factors whose dimensions have been identified. Analysis of the research data was 

planned using descriptive statistical Analysis and inferential statistics.  
We used a two-step technique to analyze the data. The first step was measuring the 

variables through the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) technique in order to obtain the 
fitness of the combination of the exogenous and endogenous constructs. The CFA model can 
be accepted if it has a good validity and reliability model data match. The second step was to 
measure the structure of the full SEM model by combining the CFA model from combined 
exogenous and endogenous constructs that were fit into one overall model (hybrid model) or 
full model for estimation and Analysis. The model is considered as good or fit if it satisfies 
the overall model fit test or Goodness of fit test (Haryono, 2016). 

Results 

Based on the fit indexes presented in Table 5, it showed that the chi-square value was 1.000, 
the CFI value was 1.000, and the RMSEA was 0.0000, indicating that the model was fit. The 
results showed that mindfulness positively affects emotion regulation with a path coefficient 
value of 0.686 with a p-value <0.001. Thus, mindfulness has a positive and significant effect 
on emotional regulation at the air traffic controllers of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. 
The results also showed that there are direct effects and indirect effect of mindfulness on 
work-life balance through emotional regulation. The magnitude of the direct effect of 
mindfulness on work-life balance was 0.41. Based on Nurbaiti (2022), we found that the 
magnitude of the indirect effect of mindfulness on work-life balance was 0.70 x 0.38 = 0.26. 
Meanwhile, the total effect of mindfulness on work-life balance was 0.41+0.26 = 0.67. 

A stronger relationship or a greater contribution to the results of the study was seen 
from the coefficients, where the direct effect was greater than the indirect effect. The 
magnitude of the path value of the direct effect of mindfulness on work-life balance was 41%, 
which was greater than the path value of the indirect effect that accounted for 0.26 with a 
contribution of 26%, so it can be concluded that the real influence was the direct effect. That 
is, there was a direct relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance.  
 

Figure 1 
Path diagram based on SLF values and path coefficients 
 

 



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The good nature of convergent validity is demonstrated by a standardised loading factor 
(SLF) value that surpasses 0.5, as recommended by Hair et al. (2010). The construct reliability 
(CR) measure is also a determining indicator that shows whether convergent validity is good 
or not. Hair et al. (2010) stated that a CR value ≥ 0.7 includes good reliability, while a CR 
value between 0.6 and 0.7 includes acceptable reliability, provided that the indicator variables 
show good validity. See Figure 1. 
 
Table 6 

SLF Value Based on the Indicators on Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, and Work-Life 

Balance Latent Variables 
 

Indicator 

Standardized 

Loading Factor 

(SLF) 

MF1  0.931 

MF2  0.916 

MF3  0.919 

MF4  0.921 

MF5  0.918 

MF6  0.923 

MF7  0.910 

MF8  0.928 

MF9  0.916 

MF10  0.927 

MF11  0.927 

MF12  0.925 

MF13  0.913 

MF14  0.917 

MF15  0.936 

RE1  0.938 

RE2  0.931 

RE3  0.934 

RE4  0.937 

RE5  0.932 

RE6  0.930 

RE7  0.930 

RE8  0.922 

RE9  0.930 

RE10  0.952 

WLB1  0.930 

WLB2  0.925 

WLB3  0.943 

WLB4  0.926 

WLB5  0.921 

WLB6  0.916 

WLB7  0.927 

WLB8  0.909 

WLB9  0.936 

WLB10  0.915 



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Table 6 

(Continued) 

Indicator 

Standardized 

Loading Factor 

(SLF) 

WLB11  0.929 

WLB12  0.890 

WLB13  0.935 

WLB14  0.922 

WLB15  0.906 

WLB16  0.923 

WLB17  0.943 

Notes: MF=Mindfulness, RE =Emotion Regulation, WLB= Work-Life balance 

 
As presented in Table 6, it is known that the SLF value of all indicators of the latent 

variables of mindfulness, emotional regulation and work-life balance were above 0.5. ThS 
indicates all the latent were valid. 
 
Table 7 

Test the Significance of Direct and Indirect (Mediation) Influence 

Indicator 
Standardized Loading 

Factor (SLF) 
Error SLF2 AVE CR 

MF1  0.931 0.134 0.867 

0.850 0.988 

MF2  0.916 0.160 0.839 

MF3  0.919 0.155 0.845 

MF4  0.921 0.152 0.848 

MF5  0.918 0.158 0.843 

MF6  0.923 0.149 0.852 

MF7  0.910 0.172 0.828 

MF8  0.928 0.140 0.861 

MF9  0.916 0.161 0.839 

MF10  0.927 0.141 0.859 

MF11  0.927 0.140 0.859 

MF12  0.925 0.144 0.856 

MF13  0.913 0.166 0.834 

MF14  0.917 0.159 0.841 

MF15  0.936 0.124 0.876 

RE1  0.938 0.119 0.880 

0.871 0.985 

RE2  0.931 0.134 0.867 

RE3  0.934 0.128 0.872 

RE4  0.937 0.122 0.878 

RE5  0.932 0.132 0.869 

RE6  0.930 0.135 0.865 

RE7  0.930 0.135 0.865 

RE8  0.922 0.151 0.850 

RE9  0.930 0.136 0.865 

RE10  0.952 0.094 0.906 

WLB1  0.930 0.134 0.865 

0.853 0.990 

WLB2  0.925 0.145 0.856 

WLB3  0.943 0.111 0.889 

WLB4  0.926 0.143 0.857 

WLB5  0.921 0.151 0.848 

WLB6  0.916 0.161 0.839 

WLB7  0.927 0.142 0.859 

WLB8  0.909 0.174 0.826 



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Table 7 

(Continued) 

Indicator 
Standardized Loading 

Factor (SLF) 
Error SLF2 AVE CR 

WLB9  0.936 0.124 0.876 

       0.853       0.990 

WLB10  0.915 0.162 0.837 

WLB11  0.929 0.138 0.863 

WLB12  0.890 0.208 0.792 

WLB13  0.935 0.125 0.874 

WLB14  0.922 0.149 0.850 

WLB15  0.906 0.178 0.821 

WLB16  0.923 0.147 0.852 

WLB17  0.943 0.110 0.889 

Notes: MF=Mindfulness, RE =Emotion Regulation, WLB= Work-Life balance 

 
Hair et al. (2010) states that the AVE value ≥ 0.5 indicates adequate convergence. From 

the AVE measure, it is known that the AVE values of all scales were > 0.5, which means that 
those met the characteristics of good convergent validity. Meanwhile, based on the CR value, 
the CR values of all scales were > 0.7, which means that they met the characteristics of good 
convergent validity. See Table 7. 
 
Table 8 

Overall Model Fit Test 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Based on Table 8, the results showed that the whole model has a good ability in terms 
of matching the sample data (i.e., good fit). 
 
Table 9 

Test the Significance of Direct and Indirect (Mediation) Influence 
 

Path Path coefficient P-value 

MF -> RE 0.686 < 0.001 

MF -> WLB 0.337 < 0.001 

RE -> WLB 0.321 < 0.001 

MF -> RE -> WLB 0.220 < 0.001 

Notes: MF=Mindfulness, RE =Emotion Regulation, WLB= Work-Life balance 

 
Table 9 showed that mindfulness has a positive and significant effect on emotion 

regulation, with the coefficient path value 0.686 (p<0.001) (hypothesis accepted). 
Mindfulness has a significant positive effect on work-life balance with a path coefficient 
value of 0.337) (p<0.001) (hypothesis accepted). Emotion regulation has a significant 
positive effect on work-life balance with a path coefficient value of 0.321 (p<0.001) 
(hypothesis accepted). The indirect path from mindfulness to work-life balance through 
emotional regulation was 0.220 (p<0.001); thus, emotional regulation mediates the 

Match size Value 
Benchmark 

value 
Model fit data 

P-Value Chi-Square 1.0000 > 0.05 Yes 

RMSEA 0.0000 < 0.1 Yes 

CFI 1.0000 > 0.9 Yes 

NFI 0.956 > 0.9 Yes 

RFI 0.954 > 0.9 Yes 

SRMR 0.013 < 0.1 Yes 



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relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance (hypothesis accepted). From the 
results of the data analysis, it is known that the R-Square value of emotional regulation was  
0.487, which means that mindfulness was able to explain emotion regulation by 48.7%. 
Meanwhile, the R-Square value of work-life balance was 0.536, meaning that mindfulness 
and emotion regulation could explain work-life balance by 53.6%. 

Discussion 

This study aims to test the effect of mindfulness on work-life balance through the mediation 
of emotion regulation. The results showed that mindfulness directly and indirectly affected 
work-life balance through emotional regulation. Align with Goleman (1998), mindfulness 
can be useful for identifying emotions and measuring them at a much deeper level of 
awareness (Brown et al., 2011). This indicates that ATC officers who are fully mindful would 
be able to process information cognitively and manage their emotions by thinking again 
before giving an emotional response to a certain situation. An ATC officer would be able to 
change their mindset before expressing their emotions and then act accordingly to the 
situation at hand. Those with a mindful condition would be able to express their emotions in 
accordance with the results of cognitive and emotional management that have been done 
before so that they can suppress excessive expressions that can appear in emotional 
conditions. They would be able to control their attention, which prevents them from having 
excessive emotional turmoil. With a mindful state, ATC officers  also focus on solving current 
problems and not drag on negative emotions that arise. This would improve their performance 
because what is currently being done may be resolved quickly with focus and complete 
awareness, rather than repeating and remembering previous problems. Thus, ATC officers 
wold be able to maximize their performance with mindful conditions and well-regulated 
emotions. 

The results of this study support several previous studies that revealed that someone 
who has a high level of mindfulness would be able to observe better and display behaviour 
that is more appropriate to the situation at hand, not just in the form of an automatic response 
(Dzakiah & Widyasari, 2021). This is also in line with the results of a study conducted by 
Roemer et al. (2015), which showed a positive correlation between mindfulness and emotion 
regulation. When mindfulness increases, emotional regulation also increases, and vice versa. 
Individuals who practice mindfulness would have healthy emotional regulation, reduce 
distress intensity, restore emotional conditions, and direct the behaviour to be achieved. 

Align with past research that found that individuals who practice mindfulness have a 
level of satisfaction with their work-life balance (Althammer et al., 2021), we found that 
mindfulness has a positive effect on work-life balance. This indicates that mindful ATC 
officers can consciously direct attention to overcome work distractions that are considered to 
interfere with personal life and vice versa. ATC officers will be able to deal with personal 
problems that can interfere with their role at work. Mindfulness, awareness, and attention are 
intertwined and related to one another to focus at one time and complete the demands of the 
ATC officers' role both in the work environment and other roles outside work.  

In addition, ATC officers with a mindful condition would be able to direct their 
attention to maximizing personal abilities so that these abilities become resources that can be 
continuously updated to enrich individual work performance. Their full attention and 
awareness allow them to focus on utilizing personal skills and managing personal potential 
that can be utilized to support performance. And vice versa, a mindful ATC will consciously 
direct attention in doing work so that it has a good quality of work life and positively affects 
the quality of personal life. This is in line with previous research that found that individuals 
who do mindfulness activities for just five to ten minutes experience improvement in their 
well-being and health, including cognitive, neurological, and emotional aspects (Grunwald, 



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     Tis'a Muharrani et.al (The relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance…)  

2018). Other studies have found mindfulness to be a critical issue, especially related to 
negative issues in the work environment, which can reduce employee performance in the field 
of customer service. The results of the study showed that employees with low mindfulness 
tend to have a strong relationship between work performance and feeling negative in their 
work environment (Babalola et al., 2019). 

We also found that the regulation of emotions has a positive effect on work-life balance. 
This suggests that ATC officers with good emotional regulation abilities would be able to 
balance their work and personal lives. Those who are able to manage cognition and emotions 
would provide responses and expressions that are in accordance with the conditions of the 
role being faced, whether it is a role at work or other roles.  

The ability to regulate emotions allows ATC officers to deal with problems that arise 
from both personal and work life. By practising emotional regulation, individuals can 
maintain a state of calmness when faced with challenges in their personal lives. This enables 
them to effectively address these issues without allowing them to impact their work life and 
vice versa negatively. ATC officers who are able to manage cognitively and provide 
appropriate responses and emotional expressions will continue to renew skills and potential 
to maximize roles at work and in their personal lives so that each role will enrich and benefit 
other roles. In other words, skills gained from work experience will benefit personal life and 
vice versa. This is in line with Poulose & Susdarsan (2014) that good emotional regulation 
wa associated with greater work-life balance. Other research conducted on women with 
multiple roles, namely housewives who also work as teachers, found that emotion regulation 
has a role in the quality of life of women with multiple roles. Women with the ability to 
regulate their emotions have a better work-life balance and quality of life (Siregar et al., 
2019). 

The results also showed that emotional regulation significantly mediates the 
relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance, indicating that  ATC  officers with 
a mindful condition will be able to direct their attention consciously to focus on the current 
situation and role. This will affect their ability to manage cognitively to provide emotional 
responses and express emotions according to the needs of the current situation in completing 
the role at hand. If all the roles encountered have been appropriately resolved, they can 
balance roles in work and others outside the work environment. With a mindful condition and 
a good emotional regulation process, every role faced has been completed and lived to the 
fullest so that no role can burden others.  

The results of this study have implications on how organizations or counsellors can help 
employees maintain and improve their work-life balance by enhancing their ability to manage 
their emotions, particularly in facing conflicting roles between work and personal demands. 
Organization and counsellors can also assist ATC officer to improve their mindfulness to gain 
work-life balance in the first place. However, this study has limitations, including some items 
in all scales that might contain social desirability; for example, on the work-life balance scale, 
there is a statement mentioning that both at work and in an individual's personal life worsen 
because the two roles influence each other. On the emotion regulation scale, there is a 
statement mentioning an individual's emotional state when faced with a stressful situation. In 
addition, on the mindfulness scale, there is a statement that concludes that the individual does 
not focus on everything that is being done at the moment. Future researchers need to employ 
other data collection methods, such as interviews and observation, to confirm those items to 
avoid the tendency of participants to respond according to social or researcher expectations.   

The other limitation was that this research was carried out within a limited period, so 
the researcher could not explore the real phenomenon at Soekarno-Hatta International 
Airport. Moreover, the research was only conducted at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport; 
thus limiting the generalisability of the results. Future studies could assess more diverse 
samples, such as ATC officers from different airports or employees at different companies or 
other professions. The majority of the subjects in this study were in the age range of 31-40 



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Tis'a Muharrani et.al (The relationship between mindfulness and work-life balance…) 

years, with a   diploma level of education background and male sex, who had been married 
for 1-10 years and had worked for a period of 1 to 10 years. Compilation for different 
populations requires further research. 

Conclusion 

Based on the study's results, it can be concluded that high mindfulness was associated with 
higher emotional regulation that, in turn, was related to work-life balance among  ATC 
officers.  Those with mindfulness will be able to regulate their emotions and consequently 
achieve a balance in their role both in the work environment and outside. Management can 
assist ATC officers in achieving work-life balance by enhancing their emotional regulation 
skills, particularly when confronted with negative work or personal or domestic obligations, 
or by fostering their mindfulness, which enables them to effectively balance their professional 
and personal lives. 

Acknowledgment 

The authors express gratitude to the employees of Perum Airnav Indonesia for their 

participation in this study.  

Declarations  

Author contribution. The first author contributed to designing the study, collecting data, and 
writing the draft manuscript. Second and third authors contributed to supervising study 
design, consulting data analysis, reviewing manuscripts, and finalizing manuscripts. 
Funding statement. This research was conducted without external funding support 
Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest. 

Additional information. No additional information is available for this paper. 

 
 

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