Is It So Bad or Am I So Tired?

This study contributes to an evolving dynamic perspective on the stress process as a loss cycle of resource depletion. We investigated reciprocal relationships between perceived job stressors (work overload, patient demands, and work-family conflict) and emotional exhaustion, the core strain dimension of burnout, in a 1-year cross-lagged panel study of hospital physicians (N = 95). Contrary to the causal stressor-strain hypothesis, job stressors at T1 had no significant lagged effects on emotional exhaustion at T2. However, we found a consistent pattern of reverse strain-stressor relationships, such that emotional exhaustion at T1 predicted perceived stressors at T2. Theoretical and methodological implications as well as the practical significance of our findings are discussed.