Burnout in the first year of ministry: Personality and belief style as important predictors

Abstract

Although cross-sectional research has found that personality dimensions and religious styles are associated with distress and burnout in clergy, there is little longitudinal research that considers predictors of psychological health, particularly over the initial twelve months of ministry. The author's study measured demographic and personality characteristics, openness to change in beliefs, and orientation to the demands of ministry in 60 graduating theological students in Sydney, Australia. Twelve months later they completed measures of anxiety and depression and the subscales of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Multiple regression analyses were used to determine the best predictors of distress and burnout after twelve months in ministry. Neuroticism predicted emotional exhaustion, depression, and anxiety; extraversion predicted personal accomplishment; and openness to change of beliefs predicted emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization. The power of openness to belief change as a predictor of burnout supports the inference from secularization theory, that some degree of self-integration is necessary to avoid burnout.