Driver-passenger communicative stress and psychological distress among Chinese bus drivers: the mediating effect of job burnout

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between driver-passenger communicative stress and psychological distress among bus drivers, as well as whether job burnout mediates the effect of driver-passenger communicative stress on psychological distress. METHODS: A questionnaire consisting of a 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), a one-item driver-passenger communicative stress scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), as well as sociodemographic and work factors, was distributed to 310 bus drivers in Shanghai, of which 307 completed it (99.0% response rate). A parallel multiple mediation model with bootstrap approach, was calculated to test the mediating effect. RESULTS: Driver-passenger communicative stress, emotional exhaustion and cynicism were positively associated with psychological distress. Communicative stress was significantly positively linked with two of the three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion and cynicism) and dependent variable. Emotional exhaustion and cynicism were positively associated with the dependent variable. The results indicate that emotional exhaustion and cynicism partially mediated the effect of communicative stress on psychological health, and that 60.0% of this effect can be explained by mediating effects, in which emotional exhaustion and cynicism weighed 63.2% and 36.8%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Communicative stress had effects on psychological distress among Chinese bus drivers, and job burnout was a mediator in this relationship.