Romantic relationship satisfaction, age, course load, satisfaction with income and parental status as predictors of instructors’ burnout: Evidence from a correlational study

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the predictors of foreign language instructors’ burnout levels. More specifically, it aimed to examine whether romantic relationship satisfaction could predict instructors’ burnout controlling for age, course load, perception of course load, satisfaction with income and parental status, and to investigate the predictive role of these variables. Correlational research design was employed so as to answer the research questions on three sub dimensions of burnout. Two hundred thirty four foreign language instructors working at state and private universities in Ankara participated in this study. The data were collected through a personal information sheet, Maslach Burnout Inventory and Hendrick’s Relationship Assessment Scale, and descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted using SPSS 22 (IBM 2013). Results of the hierarchical regression analyses indicated that emotional exhaustion levels of language instructors could be significantly predicted by their romantic relationship satisfaction, course load, perception of course load and satisfaction with income whereas age and parental status were not significant predictors of emotional exhaustion. As for depersonalization levels, except course load, all variables in the model made significant contribution to the prediction equation, which was proven significant with a smaller variance compared to emotional exhaustion. The third subscale of burnout, personal accomplishment, was significantly predicted merely by satisfaction with income and parental status. Results revealed the fact that the group of variables having predicted each subscale of burnout significantly was different, which indicate the necessity to research this elaborate phenomenon further to help prevent burnout among academic staff.