Towards a more refined understanding of the interplay between burnout and engagement among secondary school teachers : a person-centered perspective

Recent research in different types of employees has suggested that burnout and engagement at work may co-occur to different degrees. However, little is known about the interplay between burnout and engagement among secondary school teachers. Using a person-centered approach, this study examined which configurations of the three Farber burnout subtypes (i.e., frenetic, underchallenged, and wornout), together with engagement at work, emerged among teachers, and which resulting profiles yielded the most adaptive pattern of teachers' psychological, physical, and work-related functioning. A sample of 584 secondary school teachers (M = 45.04 +/- 8.97) participated in this study. Five profiles were identified, showing a co-occurrence of frenetic burnout and engagement in three of those profiles. Further, experiencing moderate levels of engagement appeared to be more adaptive than experiencing high levels of engagement combined with moderate levels of frenetic burnout. These results support the coexistence of burnout and engagement, highlighting how different profiles can differently affect teachers' well-functioning at work