Core Self-Evaluations as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Social Support and Burnout in Working Adults and University Students

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2021

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Stacy, William George Sholto

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Burnout is a problematic issue in Australia, with the impact being felt by individuals and society. Given the impact of burnout on an individual’s mental health and wellbeing, it has become increasingly important to identify protective factors. Factors should be explored in both workplace and university study settings, as burnout from university study has been demonstrated to lead to workplace burnout (Robins et al., 2018). Research on health care professionals has found that depending on the individual’s core self-evaluations (a control-based personality trait), different types of social support may protect the individual against burnout. However, these relationships have not been explored in a broader workforce or among university students. To test the interactive relationship this study employed a cross-sectional design using 183 working adults and 285 university students. Results found core self-evaluations, instrumental and emotional social support were negatively correlated with burnout. Hierarchical multiple linear regression was conducted to explore if core self-evaluations moderated the relationship between both social support types and burnout. Results indicated that moderation was occurring in working adults, where for individuals with higher core self-evaluations, higher levels of instrumental social support were associated with reduced burnout, while in individuals with lower core self-evaluations, higher levels of emotional social support were associated with reduced burnout. However, moderation did not occur in the university student population. These findings indicate that group differences possibly affected core self-evaluations interacting with the social support and burnout relationship. Environmental and group differences are discussed, and recommendations made for further research.

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School of Psychology

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Thesis (B.PsychSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2021

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This electronic version is made publicly available by the University of Adelaide in accordance with its open access policy for student theses. Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. This thesis may incorporate third party material which has been used by the author pursuant to Fair Dealing exceptions. If you are the author of this thesis and do not wish it to be made publicly available, or you are the owner of any included third party copyright material you wish to be removed from this electronic version, please complete the take down form located at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/legals

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