Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 1/2006

01-01-2006 | Original Paper

Burnout in the general population

Results from the Finnish Health 2000 Study

Authors: Kirsi Ahola, Tieja Honkonen, Erkki Isometsä, Raija Kalimo, Erkki Nykyri, Seppo Koskinen, Arpo Aromaa, Jouko Lönnqvist

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 1/2006

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Burnout is a chronic stress syndrome which develops gradually as a consequence of prolonged stress situation. Socio-demographic factors related to job-related burnout have not been studied in the whole population. We investigated the relative differences in the level of burnout between groups based on various socio-demographic factors in the population-based Finnish sample.

Methods

The nationally representative sample comprised 3,424 employees aged 30–64 years. Burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey. The socio-demographic factors of interest were gender, age, education, type of employment, work experience, socio-economic status (SES), working time, and marital status.

Results

Only small differences in burnout were found between the different population groups. As a three-dimensional syndrome, burnout was associated with age. In contrast to what has been consistently reported so far, mostly among human service work and in non-representative studies, burnout seemed to increase somewhat with age. Among women, burnout was also related to education, SES, and work experience, and among men, to marital status.

Conclusions

Burnout can evolve in all kinds of vocational groups. It seems that age does not generally protect against burnout. A low education level and low social status carry a possible risk of burnout for women, and being single, divorced, or widowed carry a possible risk of burnout for men.
Literature
1.
Ahola K, Honkonen T, Isometsä E, Kalimo R, Nykyri E, Aromaa A, Lönnqvist J (2005) The relationship between job-related burnout and depressive disorders—results from the Finnish Health 2000 Study. J Affect Disord 88:55–62CrossRefPubMed
2.
Aromaa A, Koskinen S (2004) Health and functional capacity in Finland. Baseline results of the Health 2000 Health Examination Survey. Publications of the National Public Health Institute B12/2004. Hakapaino Oy, Helsinki
3.
Bakker AB, Demerouti E, Schaufeli WB (2002) Validation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey: an internet study. Anxiety Stress Coping 15:245–260
4.
Bartley M, Owen C (1996) Relation between socioeconomic status, employment, and health during economic change, 1973–1993. BMJ 313:445–449PubMed
5.
Bebbington P (1987) Marital status and depression: a study of English national admission statistics. Acta Psychiatr Scand 75:640–650PubMed
6.
Birch N, Marchant MP, Smith NM (1986) Perceived role conflict, role ambiguity, and reference librarian burnout in public libraries. Libr Inf Sci Res 8:53–65
7.
Brenninkmeyer V, Van Yperen NW, Buunk BP (2001) Burnout and depression are not identical twins: is decline of superiority a distinguishing feature? Pers Individ Differ 30:873–880CrossRef
8.
Broadhead WE, Kaplan BH, James SA, Wagner EH, Schoenbach WJ, Grimson R, Heyden S, Tibblin G, Gehlbach SH (1983) The epidemiologic evidence for a relationship between social support and health. Am J Epidemiol 117:521–537PubMed
9.
Glass DC, McKnight JD (1996) Perceived control, depressive symptomatology, and professional burnout: a review of the evidence. Psychol Health 11:23–48
10.
Hakola T (2000) Main causes of the Finnish early retirement. Publications of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 2000:11. Oy Edita Ab, Helsinki (in Finnish)
11.
House JS, Landis KR, Umberson D (1988) Social relationships and health. Science 241:540–545PubMed
12.
Huberty TJ, Huebner ES (1988) A national survey of burnout among school psychologists. Psychol Sch 25:54–61
13.
Johnson JV, Steward W, Hall EM, Fredlind P, Theorell T (1996) Long-term psychosocial work environment and cardiovascular mortality among Swedish men. Am J Public Health 86:324–331PubMed
14.
Kalimo R (2000) The challenge of changing work and stress for human resources. The case of Finland. J Tokyo Med Univ 58:349–356
15.
Kalimo R, Toppinen S (1997) Burnout among Finnish working population. Työterveyslaitos, Helsinki (in Finnish)
16.
Kalimo R, Pahkin K, Mutanen P, Toppinen-Tanner S (2003) Staying well or burning out at work: work characteristics and personal resources as long-term predictors. Work Stress 17:109–122
17.
Karasek R, Theorell T (1990) Stress, productivity and reconstruction of working life. Basic, New York
18.
Kendler KS, Gardner CO, Prescott CA (2002) Toward a comprehensive developmental model for major depression in women. Am J Psychiatry 159:1133–1145PubMed
19.
Kivimäki M, Leino-Arjas P, Luukkonen R, Riihimäki H, Vahtera J, Kirjonen J (2002) Work stress and risk of cardiovascular mortality: prospective cohort study of industrial employees. BMJ 325:857PubMed
20.
Leana CR, Feldman DC (1991) Gender differences in responses to unemployment. J Vocat Behav 38:65–77CrossRef
21.
Lehtonen R, Djerf K, Härkänen T, Laiho J (2003) Modelling complex health survey data: a case study. In: Höglund R, Jäntti M, Rosenqvist G (eds) Statistics, econometrics and society: essays in honour of Leif Norberg. Yliopistopaino, Helsinki
22.
Leiter MP, Schaufeli WB (1996) Consistency of the burnout construct across occupations. Anxiety Stress Coping 9:229–243CrossRef
23.
Marmot MG, Bosma H, Hemingway H, Brunner E, Stansfeld S (1997) Contribution of job control and other risk factors to social variations in coronary heart disease incidence. Lancet 350:235–239PubMed
24.
Maslach C, Jackson SE (1981) The measurement of experienced burnout. J Occup Behav 2:99–113CrossRef
25.
Maslach C, Jackson SE, Leiter MP (1996) Maslach burnout inventory manual, 3rd edn. Consulting Psychologist, Palo Alto
26.
27.
Mor V, Laliberte L (1984) Burnout among hospice staff. Health Soc Work 9:274–283PubMed
28.
Occupational Classification 1997 (1999) Handbook 14. Statistics Finland, Helsinki
29.
Poulin JE, Walter CA (1993) Burnout in gerontological social work. Soc Work 38:305–310PubMed
30.
Rogers JC, Dodson SC (1988) Burnout in occupational therapists. Am J Occup Ther 42:787–792PubMed
31.
Salokangas RKR, Mattila V, Joukamaa M (1988) Intimacy and mental disorder in late middle age. Acta Psychiatr Scand 78:555–560PubMed
32.
Schaufeli W, Enzmann D (1998) The burnout companion to study and practice: a critical analysis. Taylor & Francis, London
33.
Schaufeli WB, Greenglass ER (2001) Introduction to special issue on burnout and health. Psychol Health 16:501–510
34.
Schaufeli WB, Leiter MP, Maslach C, Jackson SE (1996) Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey (MBI-GS). In: Maslach C, Jackson SE, Leiter MP (eds) Maslach burnout inventory manual, 3rd edn. Consulting Psychologist, Palo Alto
35.
Schreurs PJG, Taris TW (1998) Construct validity and the demand control model: a double cross validation approach. Work Stress 12:66–84
36.
Schutte N, Toppinen S, Kalimo R, Schaufeli W (2000) The factorial validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey (MBI-GS) across occupational groups and nations. J Occup Organ Psychol 73:53–66
37.
Shirom A (2003) Job-related burnout: a review. In: Quick JC, Tetrick LE (eds) Handbook of occupational health psychology. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC
38.
Singer JD (1998) Using SAS PROC MIXED to fit multilevel models, hierarchical models, and individual growth models. J Educ Behav Stat 24:323–355
39.
Sparks K, Faragher B, Cooper CL (2001) Well-being and occupational health in the 21st century workplace. J Occup Organ Psychol 74:489–509
40.
Statistics Finland (2000) Statistical yearbook of Finland 2000. Statistics Finland, Hämeenlinna
41.
Taris TW, Schreurs PJG, Schaufeli WB (1999) Construct validity of the Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey: two sample examination of its factor structure and correlates. Work Stress 13:223–237
42.
Toppinen-Tanner S, Kalimo R, Mutanen P (2002) The process of burnout in white-collar and blue-collar jobs: eight-year prospective study of exhaustion. J Organ Behav 23:555–570
43.
Töyry S, Räsänen K, Kujala S, Husman K, Juntunen J, Kalimo R, Luhtala R, Myllymäki K, Seuri M, Äärimaa M (1999) Lääkärien työolot ja kuormittuneisuus-tutkimus. Suom Lääkäril 54:2423–2430 (in Finnish)
44.
Vredenburgh LD, Carlozzi AF, Stein LB (1999) Burnout in counselling psychologists: type of practice setting and pertinent demographics. Couns Psychol Q 12:293–302
Metadata
Title
Burnout in the general population
Results from the Finnish Health 2000 Study
Authors
Kirsi Ahola
Tieja Honkonen
Erkki Isometsä
Raija Kalimo
Erkki Nykyri
Seppo Koskinen
Arpo Aromaa
Jouko Lönnqvist
Publication date
01-01-2006
Publisher
Steinkopff-Verlag
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 1/2006
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-005-0011-5

Other articles of this Issue 1/2006

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 1/2006 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Use of mental health services in a developing country

Original Paper

The prevalence of nursing staff stress on adult acute psychiatric in-patient wards

Original Paper

Does Expressed Emotion need to be understood within a more systemic framework?

Original Paper

Does stigma concerning mental disorders differ through medical education?

Original Paper

Physical and mental health of Afghan, Iranian and Somali asylum seekers and refugees living in the Netherlands

Original Article

Screening for mental disorders in cancer, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal diseases