NTERNATIONAL R EVIEW OF I NDUSTRIAL AND O RGANIZATIONAL P SYCHOLOGY 2005 their relationship with burnout: anxiety, somatic complaints, anddepression

276 I NTERNATIONAL R EVIEW OF I NDUSTRIAL AND O RGANIZATIONAL P SYCHOLOGY 2005 their relationship with burnout: anxiety, somatic complaints, anddepression

symptomatology. Anxiety and burnout

The relationship between burnout andanxiety has been investigatedin several studies (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2000; Brenninkmeijer, Van Yperen, & Buunk, 2001; Leiter & Durup, 1994). Burnout may overlap with anxiety since high levels of emotional exhaustion may raise individuals’ level of anxiety in stressful situations andmay weaken their ability to cope with anxiety (Winnubst, 1993). In their study of the extent to which trait anxiety predicted each of the MBI components, Richardson, Burke, and Leiter (1992) concluded that it may function as a relatively stable individual difference in the burnout process. Likewise, Turnipseed (1998), using both trait andstate anxiety scales to pred ict each of the MBI components, suggestedthat both are significant contributors to burnout, especially the emotional exhaustion component of the MBI.

Somatic complaints and burnout Somatic complaints refer to subjectively reportedhealth-relatedproblems,

such as circulatory andheart problems, musculoskeletal pains, andexcessive sweating. Several studies found that burnout was associated with a variety of somatic symptoms, including sleep disturbances, recurrent headaches, and gastrointestinal problems (e.g., Gorter, Eijkman, & Hoogstraten, 2000; Kahill, 1988). Such somatic symptoms may merely reflect a personal dis- position of negative affectivity (Watson & Pennebaker, 1989) rather than poor physical health.

Depressive symptomatology and burnout Burnout has been shown to be consistently more powerfully predicted by

job-relatedandsituation-specific variables relative to emotionally distressing conditions such as depression (Maslach et al., 2001). Factor-analytic studies of items measuring burnout andd epression (e.g., Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998) have generally foundeach construct to loadon d ifferent factors, indicating that these measures probably tap different conceptual domains. Especially noteworthy is Glass & McKnight’s (1996) review of 18 studies that measured depression and burnout. Only 1 of the 18 studies did not use the BMI to measure burnout, andtherefore the conclusions are relevant to burnout as gaugedby the MBI. Glass andMcKnight’s (1996) review suggestedthat depressive affect andburnout may share a common etiology, and that their shared variance may be due to their concurrent development. Still, these researchers were able to conclude that burnout and depressive

277 symptomatology are not redundant concepts and their shared variance does

B URNOUT AND H EALTH R EVIEW

not indicate complete isomorphism. Schaufeli and Enzmann (1998) reviewed

12 studies that measured burnout (as gauged by the MBI) and depression. Both reviews concluded that burnout and depression, while sharing appreciable variance, do not represent redundant concepts denoting the same underlying dysphoric state. The meta-analytic study by Schaufeli and Enzmann (1998) reportedthat the emotional exhaustion component of the MBI andd epression sharedon average 28% of their variance, while depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment shared with depression, respectively, 13% and 9% of their variance on average.

Several studies have compared the construct validity of burnout and depression. A study of hospital nurses conducted by Glass, McKnight, and Valdimarsdottir (1993), found that under certain conditions burnout may develop into depression. However, McKnight and Glass (1995) found that burnout andd epression were reciprocally, as opposedto mono-causally, related. In a more recent study conducted by Bakker, Schaufeli, Sixma et al. (2000), in which the incidence of burnout and depression among school teachers was investigated, lack of reciprocity in relations with students was found to predict burnout but not depression, whereas lack of reciprocity in relations with one’s partner was found to predict depression but not burnout. Therefore, while burnout and depression share some dysphoric symptoms, includ ing low energy, fatigue, andinability to concentrate, andhave therefore been foundto be empirically relatedto one another, the evidence summarizedbelow supports the conclusion that they are in point of fact two distinct and separable constructs.

Burnout and Negative Emotions

In sum, as couldbe expectedbasedon the above theoretical arguments, burnout, depression, anxiety, and somatic complaints were found to be sig- nificantly associated(Schaufeli & Buunk, 2003; Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998). However, there is hardly any support for the contention that the construct of burnout is redundant in relation to any of the other indicators of poor mental health, including depression, anxiety, and somatic complaints. What then are the implications of the theoretical arguments andavailable evid ence regarding future research on burnout and mental health?