Abstract

This study tried to identify potential groups according to the trajectory of job burnout changes in adults during the COVID-19 period, examine predictive factors affecting the type of change, and identify differences in life satisfaction and loneliness for each type. To this end, a latent class growth analysis was conducted on 381 adults during the COVID-19 pandemic to categorize changes in job burnout. As a result of the analysis, the final four groups were found to be the most appropriate, and each group was named ‘recovery group’, ‘delayed burnout group’, ‘resilience group’, and ‘chronic burnout group’ according to the pattern of change. As a result of examining the influence factors on the type of change in the development trajectory of job burnout, it was found that older people are more likely to belong to delayed burnout groups and resilience group, and women’s gender and high economic levels are more likely to belong to elastic groups. Finally, examining the differences in life satisfaction and loneliness across job burnout change types showed that elastic groups consistently reported high life satisfaction in all survey periods. In addition, in the case of loneliness, there was a difference between points of time, but overall loneliness was high in the order of delayed burnout, recovery, and resilience group. The results of this study can be used as ac basis for seeking basic data and policy alternatives to improve mental health of adults in Korea in future infectious disease situations.