Extreme Roommates

Astronauts and members of other extreme teams (e.g., military) must live and work with the same people. These teams must contend with important safety and mission consequences for their behavior, both on and off the work clock. Group-living skills have yet to be formally defined beyond organizationally driven codes of conduct and team norms. We define group-living skill as an adaptable skillset that accounts for team effectiveness in nonwork time by applying four work–family theories and providing subsequent propositions to the conceptual space. Next, we examine the astronauts’ own perceptions of group living and discuss the psychometric evidence for group living’s importance. Broadly, this chapter also discusses predictors and outcomes of group living and opportunities for further research and training. Group living is a consequential and understudied area of extreme teamwork with performance and well-being implications.