Abstract
This chapter presents an explorative study that investigates the importance of personality characteristics and coping styles in the development of burnout at work. Need for recovery is an indicator of failing recovery and correlates high with feelings of emotional exhaustion (Veldhoven, 2008), which are assumed to be at the core of the burnout syndrome (Cordes and Dougherty, 1993). It is an early indicator of burnout development. Need for recovery is measured two times with a two-year interval in a sample of 101 workers in a health care institution. Two types of multiple regression equations are compared: the first predicting time2 need for recovery while controlling for time1 need for recovery, and the second predicting the average need for recovery across time1 and time2. Age, gender and work demands serve as control variables in both types of analysis. The results show that inability to withdraw from work, negative affectivity and lack of palliative coping style are significant predictors of both time2 need for recovery and the average need for recovery across time1 and time2, illustrating the importance of personality characteristics and (to a lesser degree) coping styles in recovery processes. Subtle differences exist between the two types of analysis. Conceptual and methodological issues that follow from this study are discussed. Research results of this study point at factors that can be targets for individual stress management in employees who report (early signals of) burnout.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Psychology of burnout |
| Subtitle of host publication | Predictors and coping mechanisms |
| Editors | R.V. Schwartzhoffer |
| Publisher | Nova Science Publishers |
| Pages | 93-110 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-160876010-7 |
| Publication status | Published - 2011 |