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A five‐sample confirmatory factor analytic study of burnout‐depression overlap
Author(s) -
Bianchi Renzo,
Schonfeld Irvin Sam,
Verkuilen Jay
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.22927
Subject(s) - burnout , psychology , confirmatory factor analysis , clinical psychology , depression (economics) , depressive symptoms , structural equation modeling , psychiatry , anxiety , statistics , mathematics , economics , macroeconomics
Abstract Objective It has been asserted that burnout—a condition ascribed to unresolvable job stress—should not be mistaken for a depressive syndrome. In this confirmatory factor analytic study, the validity of this assertion was examined. Methods Five samples of employed individuals, recruited in Switzerland and France, were mobilized for this study ( N = 3,113). Burnout symptoms were assessed with the Shirom–Melamed Burnout Measure, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)—General Survey, and the MBI for Educators. Depressive symptoms were measured with the PHQ‐9. Results In all five samples, the latent factors pertaining to burnout's components correlated on average more highly with the latent Depression factor than with each other, even with fatigue‐related items removed from the PHQ‐9. Second‐order factor analyses indicated that the latent Depression factor and the latent factors pertaining to burnout's components were reflective of the same overarching factor. Conclusions This study suggests that the burnout‐depression distinction is artificial.