Profiling development of burnout over eight years : relation with job demands and resources

Abstract

The aim of the present study was twofold: First, to profile the long-term development of burnout symptoms (exhaustion, cynicism and reduced professional efficacy), and second, to investigate the associations of developmental burnout profiles with job demands and resources. The study focused on Finnish white-collar professionals (N = 169) who participated in a survey five times during eight years (in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014). At each measurement time, the participants filled in the same scales of burnout, job demands and job resources. Using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), three developmental profiles of burnout symptoms were identified: 1) Stable, low burnout (78%), 2) Exhaustion instigated, increasing burnout (12%), and 3) Cynicism and reduced professional efficacy dominated, inverted U-shaped burnout (10%). Exhaustion instigated, increasing burnout profile displayed the highest levels of job demands, whereas Cynicism and reduced professional efficacy dominated, inverted U-shaped burnout profile reported the lowest levels of job resources compared to members in other profiles. Recognizing the existence of the multiple sequential development of burnout symptoms and different patterns of job demands and the job resources behind them, this study suggests that burnout development does not follow a uniform shape, which reconciles previously inconsistent findings of variable-centred burnout research.