Effort-Reward Imbalance and Burnout in German Kindergarten Educators

Abstract

Effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment are increasingly identified as work-related risk factors for burnout and somatic symptoms. In order to explore the situation in German kindergarten educators, a cross-sectional study based on questionnaire responses from N = 1,933 was carried out. Burnout was found in 24.4% and somatic symptoms in 47.3% of the study participants. Binary logistic regressions were used to identify effort-reward imbalance (OR = 3.75, 95% CI: 2.85–4.95) and overcommitment (OR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.34–1.47) as independent predictors for burnout. Results confirm the high relevance of the effort-reward imbalance concept for the health status of kindergarten educators.