Alexithymia and occupational burnout are strongly associated in working population.
OBJECTIVE
The relationship between alexithymia and occupational burnout has not previously been studied. We investigated the association between alexithymia and occupational burnout in a representative nationwide population health study.


METHODS
This study was a part of the Finnish Health 2000 Study. The nationally representative sample comprised 3322 employees aged 30-64 years. Alexithymia was measured with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and occupational burnout with the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey. Sociodemographic and health-related variables including depression were treated as confounders in the logistic regression analyses, which were performed alternately with TAS-20 total score and the scores of the three TAS-20 factor scales as alexithymia variables.


RESULTS
Alexithymia and its three facets were significantly associated with occupational burnout even when controlled for confounding factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Even though both alexithymia and depression are associated with burnout, alexithymia may be an independent risk factor for occupational burnout.
Mattila
Aino K
AK
Tampere School of Public Health, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. aino.mattila@uta.fi
Ahola
Kirsi
K
Honkonen
Teija
T
Salminen
Jouko K
JK
Huhtala
Heini
H
Joukamaa
Matti
M
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003710:Demography; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires