Twin analysis of the association between flow proneness and work-related depressive symptoms and burnout

Most behaviour genetics research on depression and burnout has focused on adverse causal factors. However, various factors related to positive coping and well-being in daily life have been shown to be negatively associated... [ view full abstract ]

Most behaviour genetics research on depression and burnout has focused on adverse causal factors. However, various factors related to positive coping and well-being in daily life have been shown to be negatively associated with depression and burnout. In the present study, using a large, genetically informative sample of Swedish twins, we aim to understand the genetic aetiology underlying the relationship between flow proneness and work-related depressive symptoms and emotional exhaustion, as a measure of burnout. The full sample consisted of 10,120 twins with a score for at least one of the studied variables, including 2,337 full twin pairs (1,114 MZ and 1,223 DZ pairs) and 5,446 single twins without the co-twin participating. Their age ranged between 27 and 54 years (M = 40.7, SD = 7.75). Participants filled in the Swedish Flow Proneness Questionnaire, a six item subscale of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL) depression scale, focusing on work-related symptoms, and the Emotional Exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey. Higher scores indicated more flow proneness, less depressive symptoms and less burnout. Phenotypic correlations were 0.62 between depressive symptoms and burnout, 0.44 between depressive symptoms and flow proneness, and 0.35 between burnout and flow proneness. Broad-sense heritabilities (G) were 33% for flow proneness and emotional exhaustion, and 33% for males and 35% for females for depressive symptoms. A trivariate GE Cholesky decomposition was fitted, demonstrating significant genetic, as well as non-shared environmental, components of the associations between the three variables. In summary, genetic liability has a substantial influence on associations between flow and emotional problems at work (depression, burnout). However, the presence of significant environmental correlations would be in line with a causal relationship between flow and work related depression and burnout, which in turn may suggest that interventions which increase flow could potentially reduce emotional problems at work.