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BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2018

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Research article

Psychometric properties of the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM) among adolescents: results from three cross-sectional studies

Authors: Markus Gerber, Flora Colledge, Manuel Mücke, René Schilling, Serge Brand, Sebastian Ludyga

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

Background

Burnout has long been understood as work-related physical, emotional, and cognitive exhaustion. However, burnout symptoms can also be found among younger people, including school-aged adolescents. While the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM) is a widely applied instrument, its psychometric properties have not yet been investigated in adolescent populations. We therefore examined the psychometric properties of the SMBM in three independent samples of adolescents.

Methods

In total, 249 high school students, 144 vocational students, and 257 adolescent elite athletes completed the SMBM, along with questionnaires related to perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction. Descriptive statistics, gender differences, and internal consistency, convergent/discriminant validity, and factorial validity (including measurement invariance across genders) were examined in each sample.

Results

The SMBM had adequate internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that both a first- and second-order model achieve good model fit. Moreover, evidence for sufficient convergent and discriminant validity was found. Finally, in two of the three samples, female adolescents reported higher SMBM scores.

Conclusions

The SMBM has been widely used in international burnout research. However, this is the first study providing empirical evidence that the SMBM has acceptable psychometric properties and satisfactory convergent/discriminant and factorial validity among young people. The SMBM is a concise and economic tool to assess self-rated symptoms of burnout, and presents a valuable alternative to existing school burnout inventories. In particular, the SMBM can facilitate the investigation of the transition of young people from school to working life.
Appendix
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Footnotes
1
Data with regard to the SBI was only available in sample 2 (vocational students). Thus, as suggested by Hypothesis 3, convergent validity between the SMBM and the SBI was only tested in one sample.
 
2
In the case of studies with minor participants, the Swiss national legislation (Humanforschungsgesetz HFG) makes a distinction between children (≤ 14 years) and adolescents (15–18 years). In studies with children, parental informed written consent is needed (Art. 22). In studies with adolescents, informed written consent of the adolescent is required. Moreover, parental informed written consent is needed for studies, which bear more than minimal risks. However, all our studies were classified in the lowest risk category. Therefore, no parental informed written consent was required.
 
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Metadata
Title
Psychometric properties of the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM) among adolescents: results from three cross-sectional studies
Authors
Markus Gerber
Flora Colledge
Manuel Mücke
René Schilling
Serge Brand
Sebastian Ludyga
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1841-5

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