A 35-year follow-up study on burnout among Finnish employees

Abstract

This three-wave 35-year prospective study used the Job Demands-Resources model and life course epidemiology to examine how life conditions in adolescence (1961-1963) through achieved educational level and working conditions in early adulthood (1985) may be indirectly related to job burnout 35 years later (1998). We used data (N = 511) from the Finnish Healthy Child study (1961-1963) to investigate the hypothesized relationships by employing structural equation modeling analyses. The results supported the hypothesized model in which both socioeconomic status and cognitive ability in adolescence (1961-1963) were positively associated with educational level (measured in 1985), which in turn was related to working conditions in early adulthood (1985). Furthermore, working conditions (1985) were associated with job burnout (1998) 13 years later. Moreover, adult education (1985) and skill variety (1985) mediated the associations between original socioeconomic status and cognitive ability, and burnout over a 35-year time period. The results suggest that socioeconomic, individual, and work-related resources may accumulate over the life course and may protect employees from job burnout.