Optimism and risk for job burnout among working college students: stress as a mediator

Previous research shows that optimism is related to psychological and physical adjustment, but has yet to examine optimism's relation to risk for job burnout. This study examined the relationship between optimism and risk for job burnout in 225 working college students while also examining stress as a mediator. Results showed that optimism and stress were significantly correlated with risk for job burnout. Moreover, path-analytic results indicated that optimism remained a strong predictor of risk for job burnout, independent of stress. Hence, stress did not fully mediate the link between optimism and risk for job burnout. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.