Burnout is defined as the response to chronic interpersonal stressors and is generally structured with three main components: emotional exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment (depersonalization), and a lack of personal accomplishment [1] and is often assessed through the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) [2,3]. Professional burnout concerns all types of activities, but in particular the ‘caring’ professions (e.g., nursing) and, overall, professions characterized by demanding interactions with service recipients such as teaching [4]. Indeed, teachers are under a lot of stress in their classrooms, but the pressure also comes from outside as, for example, increased administrative workload or conflictual relations with pupils’ parents [5].

Burnout’s three dimensions are linked to different processes. Schaufeli and Dierendonck [6] call emotional exhaustion the affective component. It is characterized by feeling that one’s emotional resources are depleted and that one has no energy left. Regarding depersonalization, they speak of the attitudinal component. Depersonalization is characterized by being less social and sometimes even cynical. In the school setting, this detachment can be towards students or colleagues alike [7]. Diminished personal accomplishment is the cognitive component of the model. Here, it is a self-representation as someone who cannot face work pressures, which is accompanied by guilt.

How the different parts of burnout interact with each other is controversial [8,9]. Regarding teacher burnout, Friedman [10] highlights two distinct causal patterns leading the development of this syndrome in his Multiple Pathway to Burnout (MPB): (a) a cognitive track resulting from a strong sense of professional non-accomplishment and that is found in particular in very idealistic teachers; and (b) an emotional track related with a feeling of overload facing too many stressors. Thus, the etiology of burnout is not the same in every teacher, since personality, but also personal background, can explain individual differences [11].

Teacher burnout has an impact on students’ well-being. In their study on stress contagion, Oberle and Shonert-Reichl [12] show that students in burnt-out teachers’ classrooms had significantly higher cortisol levels than their peers in classes with non-burnt-out teachers. Furthermore, more negative school environments have a negative impact on children’s mental health [13]. Therefore, understanding what impacts teachers’ mental health is important in order to preserve children as much as possible. Unlike in other professions with high burnout rates, teachers have a prolonged contact with students which makes their well-being of paramount importance as they interact with children and adolescents who are still building their identity.

However, all of these contextual clues do not explain the onset of burnout. Individual characteristics (gender, self-esteem, emotional competence or personality traits) partially explain individual differences [23]. For example, Schaufeli and Enzmann [24] found over one hundred publications examining personalities’ (or linked variables) influence on burnout. Indeed, when faced with similar pressures, not all teachers will end up in burnout. Professionals in similar contexts do not react in the same way to stress factors [16] and personality can be the catalyst in the links between stress and burnout.

Neuroticism is a normal personality trait (non-pathological) that impacts some people more than others when it comes to feeling negative affects and refers to aspects such as anger, anxiety, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness and irritability [33,34]. This personality trait underscores emotional instability, perhaps even a vulnerability, which can affect ones’ behavior as emotions can interfere with adaptative capabilities in different daily situations. In comparing different contextual factors and neuroticism, Bianchi [35] underscores the weight of personality in comparison with professional pressure or job support. Whilst a lot of the research on burnout aims to better understand the impact of different stressors and to develop adaptive coping strategies in workers [5,11], these results underline the importance of personality traits and that these should not be minimized. Depending on one’s personal way of dealing with work and personal pressures, one will feel emotionally depleted more or less quickly.

Negative Affectivity as Predictor of Burnout

Depression has similar physical and psychological effects as burnout and the overlap is substantial [44]. It is characterized by sleeping difficulties, loss of energy, low self-esteem, and diminished social interactions. Although an important overlap Bianchi, Schonfeld, and Verkuilen [45] point out that each disorder also has specific characteristics. Indeed, some researchers see burnout and depression as two distinct issues [24]. Maslach, Schaufeli, and Leiter [46] distinguish them by the fact that burnout is linked to one’s professional activities whereas depression does not have a specific focus and can happen in different settings. Tavella and Parker [47] have specifically highlighted differences in the experiences for participants having had both pathologies. These recent results, highlighted by a qualitative methodology this time, suggest that although burnout and depression are similar in several aspects, they belong in two separate processes.

2. The Importance of Solving Job Burnout

Knowing that teachers’ well-being impacts that of students [12,66], it becomes even more critical to address burnout in order to preserve teachers from exhaustion and their students from related stress. Furthermore, as personality is also related to emotional competencies [67], taking into account how teachers use such competencies (to manage not only their own emotions but also those of their students) would not only allow for more comprehensive profiles to be drawn up but also for concrete avenues to be explored in order to decrease the risk of burnout and to promote a more serene classroom climate for better emotional outcomes for students. Indeed, since personality factors are considered relatively stable over time [32], acting on emotional competencies could be an approach capable of reducing the impact of stress in the classroom (also among students) and avoiding the development of burnout, particularly among novice teachers facing many uncertainties leading to negative affects [68]. Certain emotional competencies reduce the risk of burnout [15], in particular by improving the social climate and the functioning of the classroom in general [69]. By profiling teachers’ personalities, particularly with regard to negative affectivity, it would be possible to determine which emotional competencies should be developed as a priority in order to deal with the development of burnout in a targeted manner. However, ethically speaking, it would be difficult to systematically evaluate all teachers’ personalities. In practice, assessments are made and solutions offered once a person shows their first symptoms and/or is being taken into care. 

When it comes to intervention (more so than prevention) it is necessary to factor in individual needs. Although some emotional competencies reduce the risk of burnout [15], in particular by improving the social climate and the functioning of the classroom in general [69], some emotional competencies (e.g., an acute perception of internal bodily affect indicators [70]) can also accentuate stressors’ negative impact. Better knowledge of teachers’ ways of working on a personal and interpersonal level when facing stress should allow for a more efficient way of helping them. The work that can be conducted by individuals, on emotional openness for example, can bring about better efficiency of targeted interventions since individual characteristics play an important role in a therapeutic setting [71]. Understanding an individual’s functioning is therefore an important step in his or her care.