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.