Citation

Smith HA, Stephenson JA, Morrow CE, Haskell JS, Staal M, Bryan ABO, Bryan CJ. Mil. Behav. Health 2015; 3(1): 5-13.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/21635781.2014.995245

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Mental health problems among U.S. military personnel remain an important public health problem. However, little research exists concerning burnout, which is comprised of three interrelated experiences: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and (lack of) personal accomplishment (Maslach & Leiter 1997). Burnout may be especially relevant to U.S. Air Force (USAF) pararescuemen (PJs) due to their high deployment and operations tempo relative to conventional military forces. We administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI; Maslach & Jackson, 1981) to 194 male PJs from six military bases.

RESULTS of regression analyses indicated depersonalization was significantly higher among National Guard/Reserve personnel (β =.203, p =.029). Emotional exhaustion was associated with depression (β =.286, p =.004) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms (β =.194, p =.053), whereas depersonalization was associated with PTSD symptoms only (β =.353, p <.001). Greater personal accomplishment showed a nonsignificant inverse relationship with depression (β = −.205, p =.064).

RESULTS suggest that different dimensions of burnout are associated with different types of psychological distress among PJs and may be related to mental health problems in this population. Burnout warrants further attention among researchers.

Language: en