Burnout

Burnout and work engagement:
Exploring individual and psychophysiological differences

Saar Langelaan 2007

The research reported in this thesis was funded by the Research Institute for
Psychology & Health, an Institute accredited by the Royal Netherlands
Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Publishing this thesis was financially supported by the J.E. Jurriaanse
Stichting, Rotterdam

ISBN:978-90-393-44583
©

Cover: Mirthe Langelaan, Beeldend kunstenaar

Printed by Ridderprint Offsetdrukkerij B.V., Ridderkerk, The Netherlands
©

S. Langelaan, 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system,
withoutpermission from the author.

Burnout and work engagement:
Exploring individual and psychophysiological differences

Burnout en bevlogenheid:
Op zoek naar individuele en psychofysiologische verschillen
(met een samenvatting in het Nederlands)

Proefschrift

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor
aan de Universiteit Utrecht
op gezag van de rector magnificus,
prof.dr. W.H. Gispen,ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties
in het openbaar te verdedigen
op
vrijdag 16 februari 2007
des middags te 2.30 uur

door Saar Langelaan
geboren op 8 februari 1978 te Hengelo (GLD)

Promotoren:

Prof. dr. W.B. Schaufeli
Prof. dr. L.J.P. van Doornen
Prof. dr. A.B. Bakker

Contents
Chapter 1:

General introduction

p.7

Chapter 2:

Burnout and workengagement:
Do individual differences make a difference?

p.31

Chapter 3:

Do burned-out and work-engaged employees differ
in the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal axis?

p.49

Chapter 4:

Burnout, work engagement, and the 24-hr ambulatory
assessment of cardiac sympathetic and
parasympathetic activity.

p.73

Chapter 5:

Is burnout related to allostatic load?

p.95Chapter 6:

General discussion

p.115

Nederlandse samenvatting (Summary in Dutch)
Dankwoord (Expression of thanks)
Curriculum Vitae

p.131
p.141
p.144

Chapter 1

General Introduction

7

Chapter 1

Work may make you tired and too much demanding work may
eventually make you feel “burned-out”. However, work may also make you
feel energetic and inspired, and challengingwork may make you feel totally
engaged. Burnout has been a major topic in work stress research for the past
three decades (Halbesleben & Buckley, 2004; Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998)
and work engagement, presumed to be burnout’s opposite, recently gained
increasing interest in the field of occupational health psychology (Schaufeli &
Bakker, 2004). This is in line with the emerging trend towards“positive
psychology” that focuses on human strengths, well-being and optimal
functioning rather than on weaknesses and malfunctioning (Seligman &
Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).
Research on burnout and work engagement has mainly focused on the
role of work characteristics (Bakker & Demerouti, in press; Halbesleben &
Buckley, 2004; Schaufeli & Buunk, 2003) which is not surprising because they
areboth defined as work-related states of mind (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter,
2001; Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá, & Bakker, 2002a). However, the
work situation is not the only factor in the development of burnout or work
engagement. One’s personality may also be involved. The first goal of this
thesis is to clarify whether certain personality profiles may increase the chance
of developingburnout or experiencing work engagement.
Burnout is often thought to be connected with physical problems and
even with serious illness. Individuals who suffer from burnout often complain
of disrupted sleep, concentration and memory problems, and (at the
psychosomatic level) aching muscles, headaches, and gastro-intestinal
problems (Hoogduin, Schaap, Methorst, Peters Van Neyenhof, & Van De...