Emotional exhaustion and sleep problems in university students: Does mental toughness matter?

Understanding the effect of occupational stress on sleep quality in firefighters: the modulating role of depression and burnout

OBJECTIVES

Sleep quality of firefighters can be negatively affected by occupational stressors. A cross-sectional investigation was conducted to understand how work-related stress, post-traumatic stress, burnout and depression collectively contribute to sleep quality.

METHODS

Professional firefighters in Northern Iran completed a survey comprised of demographic information, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, HSE's Stress Indicator Tool, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, Maslach's Burnout Inventory, and the Beck Depression Inventory during a work rest break. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling.

RESULTS

Mean age of the 2339 firefighters who completed the survey was 32.30 (5.74) years. Most experienced poor sleep quality, scoring above the established cut-off of 5. Levels of work-related stress, post-traumatic stress, burnout and depression were high. Fit indices of the final theoretical model were all adequate: the obtained and adjusted goodness-of-fit indices were 0.925 and 0.917 respectively. Comparative, and incremental fit indices were 0.946 and 0.948 respectively. Root mean squared error of approximation was 0.061. Post-traumatic stress was directly and indirectly related to sleep quality through eight paths, modulated by burnout variables and depression. Work-related stress was negatively related to sleep quality through four paths modulated, by burnout variables and depression.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings illustrate the complex relationships of work-related stress and post-traumatic stress and sleep quality. High levels of poor sleep quality in this occupation emphasise the need to develop targeted and sustainable interventions to manage occupational stressors, burnout and depression to improve sleep quality in firefighters.

Adaptation and Validation of School Burnout Inventory-Bangla and Its Predictive Factors Among Adolescents

School burnout (SB) among adolescents is a growing concern, yet there has been limited research in Bangladesh. This study aims to address this gap by validating the School Burnout Inventory (SBI) in Bangla and investigating the predictive factors of SB among high-school-going adolescents in Bangladesh. The study employed a cross-sectional design, recruiting participants from various high schools across urban and rural areas. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires, which included information related to demographics, COVID-19, school burnout, daytime sleepiness, insomnia, and depression. The SBI-Bangla demonstrated high reliability and validity. The mean score of SB was 20.26 (±7.84). Significant differences in SB levels were observed across different age groups, grades, locations, mother's education levels, smoking status, and self-reported COVID-19 infection status. Multiple linear regression identified age (B = 0.647, p = .010), location (B = -1.043, p = .034), depression (B = 0.270, p < .001), daytime sleepiness (B = 0.208, p < .001), and insomnia (B = 0.662, p < .001) as significant predictors of SB. The final model explained 12.3% of the variance in SB scores. Enhancing sleep hygiene and addressing psychological issues may help reduce academic burnout. This study provides valuable baseline data that can inform future research and policy formulation aimed at reducing adolescent SB in Bangladesh.

Academic Stress and Sleep Quality among Chinese Adolescents: Chain Mediating Effects of Anxiety and School Burnout

Previous studies have investigated the associations between academic stress and adolescents' psycho-social development. However, the direct and indirect affecting mechanism of academic stress on sleep quality among Chinese adolescents have rarely been investigated. Using a self-report questionnaire data of 1232 adolescents in Jiangsu province, the purpose of the study is to investigate the relationships among academic stress, anxiety, school burnout, and sleep quality. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with Amos 25.0 was used to test the model fit in the present study. The results revealed that academic stress tends to have significantly direct effects on adolescents' sleep quality. Moreover, anxiety and school burnout could mediate the associations between academic stress and sleep quality absolutely and sequentially. This study reveals the mechanism of the effect of academic stress on adolescents' sleep quality and also develops the chain mediating model of anxiety and school burnout. In addition, the present study may shed light on social policy and social work intervention toward adolescents' sleep quality.

Does engagement help to reduce insomnia when workers are emotionally exhausted?

Insomnia is one of the most common problems, affecting more than 35% of the world's population. To achieve a better understanding of this problem the focus of this research is to understand how emotional exhaustion at work may lead to insomnia. To help to combat it, we tested a mediation model including engagement factors. The sample was composed of 823 participants. 38.3% (315 subjects) were male and 61.7% (508 subjects) were female. Mean age was 42.65 years old (9.05 = SD). Main results showed that emotional exhaustion is directly and statistically significant related to insomnia. However, different engagement factors showed different weights in buffering this relationship. Emotional exhaustion showed a statistically significant impact on insomnia. Vigor and absorption helped to buffer the impact of emotional exhaustion over insomnia. Our study has some limitations. First, the sample was acquired by not aleatory processes. Another limitation is that our sample was composed of individuals with decision-making capacity. Lastly, our research is a transversal study. Future research should take these limitations into account and conduct longitudinal research with aleatory sampling procedures.

The association of work-related extended availability with recuperation, well-being, life domain balance and work: A meta-analysis

Work-related extended availability (WREA; the availability of employees for work-related matters in their leisure time) seems to be associated with decreases in well-being and life-domain balance, but to date there is no quantitative synthesis of the scattered evidence. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis (113 articles with 121 studies relying on k = 117 independent samples with N = 131,872) on the associations between WREA and employee outcomes while examining potential moderators as well as differences between availability demands and behaviors. WREA was adversely associated with recuperation, well-being and private life, but favorably with some work-related criteria. There were no systematic differences in effect sizes between availability demands and behaviors; however, segmentation preferences were a moderator. Overall, these results suggest that WREA may pose a threat to employee recuperation, well-being and private lives, especially when employees prefer separating work and private life. However, positive potentials of WREA should not be overlooked. Plain Language Summary Work-related extended availability (WREA) refers to the availability of employees for work-related matters in their leisure time. Studies have shown that WREA may go along with primarily negative consequences for employees, but to date, there is no comprehensive overview of the literature statistically summarizing the current state of research, which was done in the study at hand. We assumed that WREA be related to problems with recovery, poorer well-being and difficulties to find a balance between work and private life. We also assessed in how far WREA goes along with attitudes towards work, absence from work and the intention to change jobs. Moreover, we considered differences between demands to be available and behaviors of actually taking care of work-related matters during leisure time. Finally, we investigated factors that may be associated with stronger consequences of WREA. We included 113 scientific papers with a total of 131,872 participants. WREA was related to problems with recovery, poorer well-being and difficulties to find a balance between work and private life, but also to more positive attitudes towards work. We did not find systematic differences between demands to be available and availability behaviors. However, we found that the relationship between WREA and work creating conflict with family life were stronger in samples with higher preferences to segment work and private life. Our findings suggest that WREA may pose a threat to employee recuperation, well-being and private lives, especially when employees prefer separating life domains. Still, positive potentials of WREA should not be overlooked.

Does More Sedentary Time Associate With Higher Risks for Sleep Disorder Among Adolescents? A Pooled Analysis

Purpose: To investigate the association between sedentary behavior and anxiety-induced sleep disorder at a global perspective. Methods:A total of 254,924 adolescents (mean age: 14.45 ± 1.42 years; 52.8% girls) who participated in the Global School-Based Student Health Survey were included for analysis. Self-reported questionnaires assessed anxiety-induced sleep disorder and sedentary behavior. Multivariable logistic regression analysis and countrywide meta-analysis were used for investigating the association between sedentary behavior and anxiety-included sleep disorder. Results:The results showed that sedentary time was linearly associated with higher OR of anxiety-related sleep disorder in adolescents across the countries and that 8 h or more per day increased the OR by 2.17 times. Countrywide meta-analysis showed that 8 h or more per day of sedentary behavior yielded an OR = 1.40 (95% CI = 1.34-1.46) of anxiety-induced sleep disorder. Moreover, the association between sedentary behavior and sleep anxiety was significant in adolescents over the age of 11 years regardless of sex. Conclusions:The findings from this study suggest that as sedentary behavior increases, sleep disorders also increase, independently of sex among adolescents. Effective preventive strategies are needed to be taken to decrease sedentary behavior that could be used to improve mental health and sleep quality among adolescents.

The longitudinal relationship between sleep problems and school burnout in adolescents: A cross-lagged panel analysis

INTRODUCTION

Despite the growing body of cross-sectional research linking sleep problems and school burnout, hardly any research has investigated the longitudinal relationship between these two constructs. The aim of this study was to examine the bidirectional association between sleep problems and school burnout in middle school students.

METHODS

A prospective design was used incorporating four time points (approximately 6-month interval). The participants were 1226 (50.3% girls) middle school students from 4 public schools who were in 7th grade at baseline. On average, participants were approximately 12.5 years old at the beginning of the study (M_age = 12.73, SD = 0.68). All participants completed self-report measures in classrooms during regular school hours. The data were analyzed using a cross-lagged structural equation model. We also examined the stability of sleep problems and school burnout in time, and investigated the moderating role of gender.

RESULTS

The results indicated there is a moderate stability for both sleep problems and school burnout, and those students with sleep problems were more likely to develop school burnout, and vice versa. Gender did not moderate the bidirectional relationship.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that future studies should investigate whether implementing intervention for sleep problems can decrease the occurrence of school burnout and whether interventions targeting school burnout can improve sleep problems.