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Predictors of burnout: results from a prospective community study

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Abstract

The possible link between work strain and subsequent mental disorders has attracted public attention in many European countries. Burnout has become a favored concept within this context. Most burnout research has concentrated on various professional groups and less so on ordinary community samples. We analyzed the data collected from a 30-year community sample during seven measuring occasions, beginning in 1978. In the last assessment (2008), we included for the first time the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Making the diagnosis of a lifetime mental disorder a predictor for burnout required us to compile the cumulative prevalence rate over all seven occasions. We also evaluated various psycho-social predictors of burnout over the life cycle of our sample. Concurrent associations of the MBI with subscales from the SCL-90-R were also investigated. The relationship of burnout with several SCL-90-R subscales demonstrated that, in all dimensions, burnout is associated with significant psychopathology. Persons with a lifetime mood disorder, and especially those with a combination of mood and anxiety disorders, had a higher risk for subsequent burnout. Various partnership problems were another predictor for burnout. In conclusion, the role of mental disorder as an occupational illness remains controversial. Various forms of such disorders as well as some psycho-social predictors can predispose to burnout. By contrast, work-related predictors appear to be less important.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant # 32-50881.97).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest concerning this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University of Zurich, Militärstrasse 8, 8004, Zurich, Switzerland

    Wulf Rössler, Michael P. Hengartner, Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross & Jules Angst

  2. Joint Research Institute of University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Collegium Helveticum, Zurich, Switzerland

    Wulf Rössler

  3. Laboratory of Neuroscience (LIM 27), Institute of Psychiatry, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Wulf Rössler

  4. Psychiatric University Hospital, University of Zurich, Militärstrasse 8, 8004, Zurich, Switzerland

    Wulf Rössler

  5. Department of Applied Psychology, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael P. Hengartner

Authors
  1. Wulf Rössler
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  2. Michael P. Hengartner
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  3. Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross
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  4. Jules Angst
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wulf Rössler.

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Collegium Helveticum, A Joint Research Institute Between the University of Zurich and the ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

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Rössler, W., Hengartner, M.P., Ajdacic-Gross, V. et al. Predictors of burnout: results from a prospective community study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 265, 19–25 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-014-0512-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-014-0512-x

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