This study examined the relationships between perceived stress, burnout, and job satisfaction among school counselors. The researchers found that school counselors' perceived stress and burnout were negatively related to their age and years of experience. Perceived stress and burnout also had a strong negative correlation with job satisfaction, and burnout was found to mediate the relationship between perceived stress and job satisfaction. The study aimed to better understand these relationships and how they may impact school counselors' work.

1. Featured Research
School Counselors’ Perceived Stress,
Burnout, and Job Satisfaction
Patrick R. Mullen
1
, Ashley J. Blount
2
, Glenn W. Lambie
3
,
and Nancy Chae
1
Abstract
We examined the relationship between perceived stress,
burnout, and job satisfaction among school counselors. Results
indi-
cated that school counselors’ perceived stress and burnout were
negatively related to their age and experience. Respondents also
reported that stress, burnout, and job satisfaction did not differ
based on their school level. Participants’ perceived stress and
burnout had a strong negative correlation with job satisfaction;
however, burnout mediated the relationship between perceived
stress and job satisfaction. We discuss the findings in light of
training and supervision.
Keywords

2. burnout, job satisfaction, school counselor, stress
School counselors are expected to provide effective services to
their students, promoting their social/emotional, academic, and
career development (American School Counselor Association
[ASCA], 2012); however, their jobs can be stressful and have
poorly defined requirements (Mathews, 2012; Young &
Lambie, 2007). School counselors have multiple professional
duties, including the provision of both direct services, such as
individual counseling, and indirect services, such as program
management (ASCA, 2012). At times, job demands require
that school counselors perform activities that are unrelated to
school counseling or the school counseling profession
(Bardhoshi, Schweinle, & Duncan, 2014; Scarborough &
Culbreth, 2008).
Novice school counselors may feel ambivalent about their
jobs because of discrepancies between their graduate school
training and their actual practice as school counselors
(Goodman-Scott, 2015). Due to inconsistencies between job

3. expectations and school counseling practice, school counselors
could suffer from stress and burnout, which could negatively
influence their job satisfaction (Bardhoshi et al., 2014; Math-
ews, 2012; Young & Lambie, 2007).
School counselors can face multiple and competing
demands, leading to symptoms of stress, empathy fatigue, emo-
tional exhaustion, counselor impairment, and eventual depar -
ture or resignation from their jobs (Maslach, 2003; Mullen &
Crowe, 2017; Stebnicki, 2008). School counseling consistently
requires empathy and compassion for students in emotionally
challenging situations (Lawson, Venart, Hazler, & Kottler,
2007; Stebnicki, 2008; Young & Lambie, 2007). Simultane-
ously, school counselors are expected to deliver career
education modules in the classroom, consult with parents and
teachers, and attend to administrative tasks such as lunch duty.
School counselors may become stressed, exhausted, and even-
tually burned out by attempting to balance their various pro-
fessional requirements. Authors have noted that the

4. experiences of burnout can lead to a severe diminishment of
school counselors’ abilities to deliver adequate services to stu-
dents and their families (Maslach, 2003; Mullen & Gutierrez,
2016; Stebnicki, 2008).
School counselors can face multiple and competing
demands, leading to symptoms of stress, empathy
fatigue, emotional exhaustion, counselor
impairment, and eventual departure or resignation
from their jobs.
Although limited school counseling literature exists regard-
ing counselors’ stress, burnout, and job satisfaction, no empiri -
cal research has examined relationships among these variables.
1 Department of School Psychology and Counselor Education,
College of
William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA
2
Department of Counseling, University of Nebraska Omaha,
Omaha, NE, USA
3 Department of Child, Family, and Community Sciences,
University of Central
Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

5. Corresponding Author:
Patrick R. Mullen, PhD, Department of School Psychology and
Counselor
Education, College of William and Mary, PO Box 8795,
Williamsburg,
VA 23187, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Professional School Counseling
Volume 21(1): 1-10
ª 2018 American School
Counselor Association
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Therefore, we extend the school counseling literature with this
study by analyzing data from a national sample of practicing
school counselors to better understand the relationship between

6. perceived stress, burnout, and job satisfaction.
School Counselors’ Stress and Burnout
A common view of stress is that it is “a particular relationship
between the person and the environment that is appraised by
the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and
endangering his or her well-being” (Lazarus & Folkman,
1984, p. 19). According to Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) stress
and coping framework, stress results from the disparity
between the demands placed upon individuals and their
resources to cope with the demands. For example, school coun-
selors who experienced greater perceived stress also reported
more demands at work compared to school counselors who
perceived less stress, such as additional paperwork, larger case -
loads, and coordination of school-wide testing (McCarthy,
Kerne, Calfa, Lambert, & Guzmán, 2010). Furthermore,
researchers have found that increased stress is associated with
decreased job satisfaction among school counselors (e.g., Bag-
gerly & Osborn, 2006; Rayle, 2006).

7. Burnout is defined as “a syndrome of emotional exhaustion,
depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment that
can occur among individuals who work with other people in
some capacity” (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996, p. 4).
In other words, burnout is the physical or emotional hardship
that develops as a result of helping others (Maslach, 2003;
Maslach et al., 1996). Burnout was first conceptualized as
arising from behavioral, cognitive, and emotional factors that
are common among individuals in the helping professions
(Freudenberger, 1974; Maslach, 1976). Counselors who expe-
rienced burnout exhibit negative self-concepts, impaired job
attitudes, a devaluing of clients, and personal discouragement
(Lee et al., 2007; Pines & Maslach, 1978). In one study, Mull en
and Gutierrez (2016) found that school counselors who expe-
rienced greater burnout reported providing fewer direct student
services (i.e., individual counseling). In another recent study,
Limberg, Lambie, and Robinson (2017) found that school
counselors who were more altruistic experienced less burnout.

8. Furthermore, burnout has been found to be negatively associ -
ated with job satisfaction in disciplines related to school coun-
seling (e.g., student affairs, counselor education; Mullen,
Malone, Denney, & Dietz, 2018; Sangganjanavanich & Balkin,
2013) and to be positively related to turnover intentions
(Mullen et al., 2018). However, researchers have examined
neither the relationship between burnout and job satisfaction
within a sample of school counselors nor relationships among
school counselors’ age, school level (i.e., grade level in the
schools in which they serve), and feelings of burnout.
Burnout has been conceptualized, in part, as stemming from
unremitting stress that occasionally escalates into crisis (Freu-
denberger, 1974, 1986; Maslach, 2003). Burnout also may be
the result of secondary experiencing of traumatic events
(Figley, 2002; Stamm, 2010) or may be, among school coun-
selors, due to the ongoing empathetic position they hold with
their students (Maslach, 2003; Stebnicki, 2008). Recent
research findings have identified a unique relationship between

9. stress and burnout. In a study of school counselors, Mullen and
Gutierrez (2016) found that both stress and burnout had a sig-
nificant negative correlation with their reported percentage of
time in direct service to students, frequency of counseling ser -
vices, and frequency of school counseling classroom activities.
However, when Mullen and Gutierrez used a path model to
explore the simultaneous contribution of stress and burnout
to the provision of direct student services, burnout continued
to have a negative relationship, whereas stress no longer had a
significant relationship. Although these findings need to be
replicated and further explored, they suggest that burnout med-
iates, or explains, the relationship between stress and the deliv-
ery of direct student services; however, no study has examined
whether burnout mediates stress and job satisfaction among
school counselors.
School Counselors’ Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is often defined as the affective response (e.g.,
sense of fulfillment and gratification) that individuals have

10. toward their jobs based on a range of occupation-related ele-
ments (i.e., schedule, compensation, and work difficulty;
Fields, 2002; Locke, 1969; Spector, 1997). Job satisfaction is
also described as the extent to which a person likes or dislikes
their job (Spector, 1997). Traditionally, research examining
school counselors’ job satisfaction has focused on their rela-
tionships with their principals and their job duties. DeMato and
Curcio (2004) proposed that support from school administra-
tors would lead to school counselors’ enhanced job satisfac-
tion; however, they did not examine this hypothesis
empirically. Rayle (2006) found that a sense of mattering to
others was positively correlated with job satisfaction and nega -
tively correlated with job stress. Furthermore, when school
counselors completed job tasks in a way that was consistent
with the recommendations of ASCA (2005), they were more
satisfied with their jobs (Baggerly & Osborn, 2006).
Other Factors Relating to Stress, Burnout, and
Job Satisfaction
Researchers have shown that additional variables including

11. years of experience, school level, and student caseload, con-
tributed to school counselors’ stress, burnout, and job satisfac -
tion. Baggerly and Osborn (2006), for example, found that
middle and high school counselors reported higher perceived
stress than did elementary school counselors. Wilkerson (2009)
found that years of experience as a school counselor was con-
tributory, with counselors with fewer years of experience or of
younger age in the counseling field reporting greater stress
compared to more experienced and older school counselors.
2 Professional School Counseling
Regarding burnout, Wilkerson (2009) found that years of
experience working as school counselor were positively related
to elements of burnout (depersonalization). In another study,
Bardhoshi, Schweinle, and Duncan (2014) identified that
school counselors with caseloads of more than 400 students
exhibited higher emotional exhaustion as compared to respon-
dents with lower caseloads, and McCarthy, Kerne, Calfa, Lam-

12. bert, and Guzmán (2010) found that school counselors reported
high student caseloads as a demanding aspect of their work.
Regarding career satisfaction, Baggerly and Osborn (2006)
found no significant difference in career satisfaction based on
school counseling participants’ school level, but an unexplored
area in the school counseling literature is whether school coun-
selors’ years of experience and age are related to their job
satisfaction, although this would be a reasonable assumption
given relationships found between years of experience and
burnout (Wilkerson, 2009). As a result of these existing studies,
the literature on stress and burnout (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984;
Maslach, 2003), and some apparent gaps in the literature, we
conducted a study on the relationships among school counse-
lors’ perceived stress, burnout, and job satisfaction.
Current Study
The current study aimed to replicate and extend the literature
by exploring the relationships among school counselors’ stress,
burnout, job satisfaction, age, years of experience, and student

13. caseload (Baggerly & Osborn, 2006; Mullen & Gutierrez,
2016; Rayle, 2006). The questions that guided our study were:
(a) What are the relationships between school counselors’ per-
ceived stress, burnout, job satisfaction, age, years of experi -
ence, and student caseload? (b) Does school counselors’
school level (elementary, middle/junior high, high school, and
other K–12 settings) cause any significant differences in school
counselors’ perceived stress, burnout, and job satisfaction? and
(c) Do school counselors’ burnout scores mediate the relation-
ship between their perceived stress and job satisfaction?
Method
Participants
A national sample (N ¼ 750) of practicing school counselors
who were members of ASCA participated in this study. Of
this sample, 86.8% identified as female (n ¼ 651), 13% iden-
tified as male (n ¼ 98), and 0.2% identified as Other (n ¼ 1).
The mean age of participants was 44.72 (SD ¼ 10.74).
Regarding ethnicity, 84.1% self-identified as White non-
Hispanic (n ¼ 631), 6.8% as African American or Black
(n ¼ 51), 4.5% as Hispanic/Latino(a) (n ¼ 34), and 4.6% as
Other (n ¼ 34). Mean number of years of experience as a
school counselor was 11.72 (SD ¼ 7.13). The mean caseload

14. (i.e., number of different students assigned to the school coun-
selor each year) was 392.65 (SD ¼ 221.23, Mdn ¼ 375, range
¼ 5–3,400). Most participants worked in suburban schools
(n ¼ 352, 46%), followed by rural (n ¼ 240, 32%) and urban
(n ¼ 158, 21.1%) schools. Moreover, most participants
worked in high school settings (n ¼ 272, 36.3%), followed
by elementary school settings (n ¼ 226, 30.1%), middle/
junior high school settings (n ¼ 178, 23.7%), and other
K–12 settings (n ¼ 74, 9.9%).
Procedure
To complete this correlational, cross-sectional research inves-
tigation (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2007), we employed e-mail-based
survey methods (Dillman, Smyth, & Christian, 2009) to collect
the data. Prior to recruitment and data collection, the institu-
tional review board at the first author’s university reviewed and
approved the study. We used the tailored design survey method
(Dillman et al., 2009) to recruit participants; 6,500 school
counselors who were members of ASCA were invited to com-
plete an online survey managed by Qualtrics (2013). School
counselors who chose to participate were directed to review the
consent information prior to their participation. If a school

15. counselor did not respond to the first e-mail invitation, they
were sent second and third reminder e-mails. Participants could
opt out of receiving reminder e-mails at any time. From the
initial recruitment e-mail to the close of the survey, the survey
remained open for duration of 6 weeks. Once the survey closed,
the data from Qualtrics were converted into an SPSS (Version
21) data file for analysis.
Of the 6,500 school counselors invited to participate, 476
had e-mails that were inactive. Thirty-three of the 6,500 coun-
selors e-mailed the first author commenting that they were no
longer working as a school counselor; therefore, they did not
participate. Of the remaining potential participants, 821 com-
pleted the survey in its entirety (a 13.70% response rate). We
then screened the data to ensure that only practicing school
counselors had completed the survey. The data from 79 parti -
cipants, who were graduate students, social workers, school
administrators, or other, were deleted and excluded from any
further analyses. The resultant sample size of school counselors
was 750. The response rate achieved in this study was equiv-

16. alent to or greater than the response rates found in prior school
counseling research using similar data collection methods (e.g.,
Harris, 2013; Luke, Gilbride, & Goodrich, 2017; Mullen, Lam-
bie, Griffith, & Sherrell, 2015). Thus, we deemed the response
rate acceptable for this research study.
Measures
Perceived stress. School counselors’ perceived stress was mea -
sured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen, Kamarck,
& Mermelstein, 1983). The PSS is one of the most widely used
scales that measures perceived stress and has been used in
research with school counselors (e.g., Mullen & Crowe,
2017), mental health counselors (Mullen, Morris, &
Lord, 2017), and counselor trainees (Gutierrez, Mullen, & Fox,
2017). The PSS is a 10-item, self-report measure of individu-
als’ perceptions of how often in the last month they felt or
Mullen et al. 3
thought in a way that would indicate encountering a stressful

17. event. The PSS is measured on a 5-point Likert-type scale with
scores ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (very often) and with higher
scores indicating more often encountering a stressful event. For
this study, we used mean PSS scores for each participant.
A sample item included, “In the last month, how often have
you been angered because of things that were outside of your
control?” An example item that was reverse coded was, “In the
last month, how often have you been able to control irritations
in your life?”
Perceived stress as measured by the PSS has been
moderately and positively related to significant life events,
self-reported stress, and self-reported physical illness in a
sample of residents in the United States (Cohen &
Williamson, 1988). In prior studies, Cronbach’s a ranged
from .86 to .88 with school counselors (e.g., Mullen &
Gutierrez, 2016; Mullen & Crowe, 2017). In this study, the
Cronbach’s a coefficient was .85.
Burnout. School counselors’ burnout was measured using the
Burnout Measure, Short Form (BMS-SF; Malach-Pines, 2005;

18. Pines & Aronson, 1988). The BMS-SF is a 10-item, self-report
measure assessing the level of an individual’s physical, emo-
tional, and mental exhaustion. Items are measured on a 7-point
Likert-type scale with scores ranging from 1 (never) to 7
(always). Higher scores indicate greater burnout. Participants
recorded their answers in response to the prompt, “When you
think about your work overall, how often do you feel the
following?” Respondents indicated their response to this
prompt with 10 words/phrases that represented different fea-
tures of burnout, including “helpless,” “worthless,” and “tired.”
Burnout as measured by the BMS-SF has been negatively
related to life satisfaction (r ¼ �.35, p < .001), optimism
(r ¼ �.39, p < .001), and work satisfaction (r ¼ �.34, p <
.001) in samples of police officers, nurses, and graduate stu-
dents (Malach-Pines, 2005). In prior research, scores on the
BMS-SF resulted in a Cronbach’s a of .89 within a sample of
school counselors (Mullen & Crowe, 2017). The Cronbach’s
a coefficient for this study was also .89.
Job satisfaction. School counselors’ job satisfaction was mea -
sured using the Overall Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (OJSQ;

19. Andrews & Withey, 1976), a 5-item, self-report measure of
general satisfaction with one’s job. The OJSQ is measured on
a 7-point Likert-type scale, with scores ranging from 1
(delighted) to 7 (terrified). Lower scores indicate individuals’
greater satisfaction with their jobs. To aid in the interpretation
of the findings, we reverse coded the OJSQ. Scores were cal -
culated by summing the items with scores ranging from 5 to 35,
with higher scores representing greater job satisfaction. Sample
items are: “How do you feel about your job?” and “How do you
feel about the people you work with—your co-workers?”
Rentsch and Steel (1992) established convergent validity evi -
dence through correlations between the OJSQ and established
measures of job satisfaction that included the Minnesota Satis-
faction Questionnaire (r ¼ .70, p < .001) and the Job Descrip-
tive Questionnaire (r ¼ .70, p < .001). Job satisfaction, as
measured by the OJSQ, has been positively related to organiza-
tional commitment (r ¼ .64, p < .05) and supervisor ratings of
performance (r ¼ .32, p < .05; Rentsch & Steel, 1992). Prior
research with the OJSQ resulted in Cronbach’s a ranging from
.79 to.82 in samples of K–12 principals and student affairs
professionals (Chang, Leach, & Anderman, 2015; Mullen

20. et al., 2018). In this study, the Cronbach’s a coefficient was .85.
Results
Preliminary Analysis
We screened the data prior to the application of statistical
analysis. In an examination of the converted z-scores of the
total scores for the main variables, eight outlier cases had val-
ues greater than 3 and were deemed extreme outliers (Osborne,
2012). Therefore, we employed Winsorized means based on
adjacent data points to resolve the outliers (Osborne, 2012).
Next, we screened the data to assess the assumptions associated
with the statistical analyses used in this study (e.g., homosce-
dasticity, no multicollinearity, multivariate normality; Hair,
Black, Babin, Anderson, & Tatham, 2006). No violations of
statistical assumptions were found with these data. We utilized
multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and Pearson’s
correlations to analyze participants’ perceived stress, burnout,
and job satisfaction scores in light of their age, years of expe -
rience, student caseload, and school level (see Table 1). To test

21. whether burnout mediates the relationship between perceived
stress and job satisfaction, we used a series of simple and
Table 1. Correlations, Means, and Standard Deviations Among
Participants’ Perceived Stress, Burnout, Job Satisfactio n, Age,
Years of
Experience, and Student Caseload.
Variables M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Perceived stress 1.47 0.57 —
2. Burnout 2.89 0.92 .72*** —
3. Job satisfaction 5.25 0.98 �.50*** �.63*** —
4. Age 44.72 10.74 �.16*** �.12** .03 —
5. Years of experience 11.72 7.13 �.14*** �.08* .03 .66*** —
6. Student caseload 392.65 221.23 .00 .05 �.01 .01 �.02 —
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
4 Professional School Counseling
multiple linear regression analyses, Sobel test, and structure
coefficients (see Table 2).
Results
To examine relationships among school counselors’ perceived
stress, burnout, job satisfaction, age, years of experience, and
student caseload (Research Question 1), we employed Pearson

22. product–moment correlation (see Table 1). Results indicated
that perceived stress and burnout were strongly, positively cor -
related (r ¼ .72, p > .001); and both perceived stress (r ¼�.50,
p < .001) and burnout (r ¼ �.63, p < .001) were negatively
correlated to job satisfaction. Perceived stress was signifi -
cantly, negatively correlated with age (r ¼�.16; p < .001) and
years of experience (r ¼ �.14; p < .001). Likewise, burnout
was significantly, negatively correlated with age (r ¼�.12, p <
.01) and years of experience (r ¼ �.08, p < .05). Age and
experience were significantly, positively correlated (r ¼ .66;
p < .001). Neither perceived stress (r ¼ .00, p ¼ .98), burnout
(r ¼ .05, p ¼ .16), job satisfaction (r ¼�.01, p ¼ .82), age (r ¼
.01, p ¼ .87) nor years of experience (r ¼�.02, p ¼ .56) were
correlated to student caseload.
To explore significant differences in school counselors’ per -
ceived stress, burnout, and job satisfaction as a function of their
school level (elementary, middle/junior high, high school, and
other K–12 settings; Research Question 2), we employed a one-
way MANOVA. The three dependent variables were perceived
stress, burnout, and job satisfaction. The independent variable
was school level (elementary, middle/junior high, high school,
and other K–12 settings). Results demonstrated no statistically
significant omnibus differences in the dependent variables

23. (perceived stress, burnout, and job satisfaction) based on parti -
cipants’ school level, F(9, 1810.85) ¼ 1.68, p ¼ .09; Wilks’s l
¼ .98, Z 2p ¼ .01.
To examine whether school counselors’ burnout scores
mediate the relationship between their perceived stress and job
satisfaction (Research Question 3), we conducted two simple
linear regressions and one multiple linear regression using pro-
cedures recommended by Baron and Kenny (1986) and Kenny,
Kashy, and Bolger (1998). As shown in Table 2, we first con-
ducted a simple linear regression with perceived stress as the
independent variable and burnout as the dependent variable.
In this equation, perceived stress explained 52% of the variance
in burnout, F(1, 749) ¼ 808.55, p < .001. Next, we conducted a
simple linear regression with perceived stress as the indepen-
dent variable and job satisfaction as the dependent variable.
Perceived stress explained 25% of the variance in job satisfac-
tion, F(1, 749) ¼ 243.46, p < .001. Finally, we conducted a
multiple linear regression with perceived stress and burnout as
the independent variables and job satisfaction as the dependent
variable. Together, the independent variables explained 40% of
the variance in job satisfaction, F(2, 747) ¼ 246.48, p < .001;

24. however, the predictive value of perceived stress (b ¼ �.09,
p ¼ .03) was significantly reduced in Step 3, indicating that
burnout fully mediated the relationship between perceived
stress and job satisfaction. A Sobel test calculation (Preacher
& Leonardelli, 2001) verified these effects (z ¼ �21.47, p <
.001), confirming that burnout mediated the relationship
between perceived stress and job satisfaction. In a final validity
check of these results, we examined structure coefficients and
found that burnout (rs ¼ .99) better predicted job satisfaction
than perceived stress (rs ¼ .79; Courville & Thompson, 2001).
Discussion
In this investigation, we explored the relationships among
school counselors’ perceived stress, burnout, and job satisfac -
tion. We also examined these three variables in light of the
participants’ school level, student caseload, age, and years of
experience. We found a strong positive correlation between
perceived stress and burnout among school counselors.
Although stress and burnout are conceptually different
(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Maslach, 2003), these findings
indicate that they are related and when school counselors expe-

25. rience greater stress, they are likely to experience greater burn-
out. These findings are consistent with previous findings
(Mullen & Gutierrez, 2016) indicating a strong positive corre-
lation between school counselors’ perceived stress and
burnout.
Similarly, in this current study, perceived stress and burnout
produced a strong negative relationship with job satisfaction,
indicating that greater stress and burnout are associated with a
decreased level of job satisfaction. This finding is consistent
with the findings of Rayle (2006), who identified a strong
negative relationship between job stress and job satisfaction,
and with the findings of Baggerly and Osborn (2006), who
identified a moderate negative relationship between stress and
career satisfaction.
The findings from our study also indicate that younger and
less experienced school counselors are more likely to report
greater perceived stress and burnout compared to older and
more experienced school counselors, which is consistent with

26. Wilkerson’s (2009) findings that identified a weak negative
relationship between school counselors’ experience and their
Table 2. Mediation Analysis.
Independent
Variables
Dependent
Variable B SE b DR2 F
Step 1 .52 808.55*
Perceived stress Burnout 1.16 .04 .72*
Step 2 .25 243.46*
Perceived stress Job
satisfaction
�0.85 .05 �.50*
Step 3 .40 246.48*
Perceived stress Job
satisfaction
�0.15 .07 �.09
Burnout �0.60 .04 �.56*
Note. N ¼ 750.
*p < .001.
Mullen et al. 5

27. reported stress. Younger and less experienced school counse-
lors may handle difficulties differently or face frequent chal -
lenges as they transition into and undertake their new
responsibilities, leading to greater stress and burnout. Future
research should explore and replicate these findings to under-
stand what specific factors contribute to younger or more inex-
perienced school counseling professionals’ perceived stress
and burnout as compared to that of older or more experienced
school counselors.
Younger and less experienced school counselors
may handle difficulties differently or face frequent
challenges as they transition into and undertake
their new responsibilities, leading to greater stress
and burnout.
In prior research, school counselors reported that caseloads
over 400 related to emotional exhaustion (Bardhoshi et al.,
2014). In the current study, however, we found that caseload
was not associated with perceived stress, burnout, or job satis -

28. faction. Bardhoshi and colleagues (2014) utilized the Counse-
lor Burnout Inventory (Lee et al., 2007), which may have
produced different results as compared to the measures used
in our study (i.e., BMS-SF, PSS, and OJSQ). Another potential
reason for the inconsistency between these two investigations
is that the current study included a sample of 750, whereas
Bardhoshi et al.’s study had 206 participants. Due to the dis -
crepancy between these studies, additional research is merited
to better understand how student caseload is related to school
counselors’ burnout, stress, and job satisfaction.
We found that caseload was not associated with
perceived stress, burnout, or job satisfaction. We
also found that school counselors’ perceived stress,
burnout, and job satisfaction did not differ based on
their school level.
In the current study, we also found that school counselors’
perceived stress, burnout, and job satisfaction did not differ
based on their school level. Our findings are similar to those

29. of Baggerly and Osborn (2006), who found no significant dif-
ference in career satisfaction based on school level; however,
Baggerly and Osborn did report that middle and high school
counselors experience greater stress than elementary school
counselors, which differs from our findings. Our results suggest
that school counselors’ experiences of stress and burnout are
pervasive across all school levels, and simultaneously, school
counselors across school levels may be generally satisfied with
their jobs. More research on this topic may provide better
insight into school-level differences in stress and burnout.
Our study’s results indicated that perceived stress and burn-
out were individually and collectively predictive of job satis -
faction. In fact, the linear composite of perceived stress and
burnout explained 40% of the variance in job satisfaction, indi-
cating that greater levels of stress and burnout are also related
to lower job satisfaction. The findings from this study are con-
sistent with findings from prior research in which school coun-
selors’ stress had a moderate negative relationship with job
satisfaction (Baggerly & Osborn, 2006; Mullen et al., 2018;

30. Rayle, 2006).
Burnout and stress have long been considered problematic
for helping professionals; however, only limited research has
examined the interplay of these constructs. Theorists (Freuden-
berger, 1974; Maslach, 2003; Stebnicki, 2008) have noted that
burnout develops over time as a consequence of prolonged
stress related to social interactions with coworkers or col -
leagues and can be particularly problematic for helping profes-
sionals such as school counselors. In the current study, school
counselors who reported greater stress also reported greater
burnout and less satisfaction with their jobs. Burnout mediated
stress and job satisfaction, meaning that burnout explained how
stress negatively affects school counselors’ job satisfaction.
This finding supports the notion that school counselors should
be aware of their stress and take steps to prevent burnout (Law -
son & Myers, 2011).
Implications for School Counseling Practice and Future
Research

31. The findings from our study have several implications for
school counseling practice and training. First, school counselor
educators may want to teach school counseling trainees how to
use self-assessments of stress and burnout and self-awareness
strategies (e.g., Bradley, Whisenhunt, Adamson, & Kress,
2013; Lambie, 2006) during their preparation programs. By
preparing school counselor trainees to remain aware of their
levels of stress and burnout, school counselor educators may
contribute to prevention of trainees’ future job dissatisfaction.
School counselor educators may also want to teach counselor
trainees wellness and self-care strategies. For example, Wolf,
Thompson, Thompson, and Smith-Adcock (2014) described a
wellness program in which self-care strategies are taught to
counselor trainees over the course of a 14-session workshop
series. Further, school counselor educators could include well -
ness and self-care strategies in their curriculum (e.g., wellness
plans and wellness seminars) to offer strategies to mitigate
burnout and stress.

32. School counselor educators may want to teach
school counseling trainees how to use self-
assessments of stress and burnout and self-
awareness strategies . . . [they] also may want to
teach counselor trainees wellness and self-care
strategies.
Clinical supervision could also include self-care (Blount &
Mullen, 2015; Lambie & Sias, 2009; Moyer, 2011). School
counselor supervisors can support practicing counselors,
including advocating for defined roles for counselors to prevent
systematic causes of stress (Young & Lambie, 2007).
6 Professional School Counseling
Furthermore, clinical supervisors can observe and assess their
trainees’ level of stress or wellness during initial clinical train-
ing and provide feedback on ways to cope with the demands of
the school counseling environment. For instance, Ohrt, Prosek,
Ener, and Lindo (2015) outlined a 1.5-hr interactive group
presentation that addresses various aspects of burnout (i.e.,

33. definitions, warning signs, and consequences) that supervisors
could employ with counselors in training with the aim of
enhancing their wellness. School districts could also adapt this
type of intervention for professional development workshops.
Gnilka, Karpinski, and Smith (2015) suggested that a key strat-
egy in reducing school counselor burnout could be increasing
supervision activities and continuing education.
Practicing school counselors may also benefit from self-
assessing their levels of stress, burnout, and wellness. Several
measures are available to evaluate school counselors’ burnout
and stress, such as the Professional Quality of Life Scale
(Stamm, 2010). Other forms of assessment may be informal,
like the Wellness Starfish (Blount & Mullen, 2015) or struc-
tured activities such as those discussed by Young and Lambie
(2007). To formally assess personal wellness, school counse-
lors could utilize the Five Factor Wellness Inventory (Myers &
Sweeney, 2005) or the Helping Professional Wellness Discre-
pancy Scale (Blount & Lambie, 2018).

34. Blount and Mullen (2015) and Lenz and Smith (2010) pro-
vide conceptual models of integrating wellness into supervision
interactions and highlight the importance of assessing (for-
mally or informally) wellness during counselor training. For
example, Blount and Mullen note the use of an informal assess-
ment of wellness using a method they call the Wellness Star-
fish. This creative approach uses the starfish as a metaphor to
evaluate one’s current strengths and deficits by drawing out the
tentacles of a starfish, with each tentacle representing a differ -
ent area of well-being. A component of this model is helping
supervisees develop their own definition of wellness. Through
creating and redefining a personal model of wellness, super -
visees tailor the way they will maintain their wellness based on
their personal preferences. Research is needed on effective
supervision strategies, such as the ones described by Blount
and Mullen (2015) and Lenz and Smith (2010), to reduce stress
and burnout experiences by school counselors.
In the current study, we found that school counselors who

35. experienced higher levels of stress and burnout were also more
dissatisfied with their work compared to school counselors
with lower levels of stress and burnout. The use of career -
sustaining behaviors (Lawson & Myers, 2011) may support
school counselors’ well-being or implement wellness-
enhancing behaviors. Career sustaining behaviors are activities
that individuals engage in to enhance their professional satis -
faction and alleviate the difficulties experienced while at work,
such as the use of supervision or scheduled breaks. Further-
more, the use of problem-focused coping, as opposed to
emotion-focused coping, may mitigate the consequences of
stress (Wilkerson, 2009). Problem-focused coping refers to
targeting stressors in a practical manner (e.g., goal setting/
problem-solving, time management, and social support) that
in turn reduces the degree of stress (Lazarus, 2006). Research
examining occupational factors (e.g., work environment,
supervisor support, and compensation) that relate to burnout
in school counselors is also warranted.

36. A final implication is related to the finding that the relation-
ship between school counselors’ stress and job satisfaction was
mediated by burnout. Specifically, this finding aligns with prior
research results and theory related to stress and burnout (e.g.,
Mullen & Gutierrez, 2016). For practicing school counselors,
this finding highlights the importance of intervening when
daily stress is experienced and is a means to prevent the devel -
opment of burnout. Although school counselors are likely to
face stressors, stress itself is not what leads to job dissatisfac -
tion. Instead, it is stress as it is mediated through burnout that
is
associated with feelings of dissatisfaction. Some stress may be
beneficial (e.g., pushing one to get a task completed); how we
manage the stress is what determines its lasting impact on
burnout and job satisfaction. Therefore, school counselors
should continuously strive to focus on their ways of coping
with the stressors that arise as a part of their jobs. Future
research should investigate effective ways to cope with stres -

37. sors that can be implemented by school counselors, school
counselor educators, and supervisors.
Limitations
This study offers empirical evidence regarding the correlation
between school counselors’ stress, burnout, and job satisfaction
with burnout mediating the relationship between stress and job
satisfaction; however, we did not test alternative models, and
therefore, any directionality in hypothetical mediational mod-
els cannot be assumed. This study involved primarily White,
female school counselors; thus, the results may not be as gen-
eralizable to ethnic minority school counselors or school coun-
selors of a different gender. Last, because this study was
correlational in nature, the results should not be interpreted
as indicating a cause and effect relationship between the
variables.
Conclusion
We explored the relationship between school counselors’
stress, burnout, job satisfaction, and their demographic charac-

38. teristics. We also evaluated whether burnout mediated the rela-
tionship between stress and job satisfaction. Participants’ stress
and burnout levels were negatively associated with years of
experience and age. We found no differences in school coun-
selors perceived stress, burnout, and job satisfaction based on
their school level; however, burnout fully mediated stress and
job satisfaction. Stress and burnout are very likely to arise in
the work of school counselors and should be prevented and
attended to with the goal of enhancing the satisfaction school
counselors feel in their work.
Mullen et al. 7
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to
the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
author-

39. ship, and/or publication of this article.
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Author Biographies
Patrick R. Mullen, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Depart-
ment of School Psychology and Counselor Education at the
College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, USA.
Ashley J. Blount, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Depart-
ment of Counseling at the University of Nebraska Omaha in
Omaha, NE, USA.
Glenn W. Lambie, PhD, is a professor and chair of the Depart-
ment of Child, Family, and Community Sciences at the Uni-
versity of Central Florida in Orlando, FL, USA.
Nancy Chae is a doctoral student in the Department of School
Psychology and Counselor Education at the College of William
and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, USA.
10 Professional School Counseling
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reproduction
prohibited without permission.

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Due Date: 11:59 pm EST Sunday of Unit 4
Points: 50
Overview:
At this halfway point in the course and textbook, reflect on the
material we have covered
and considered in your response to the content.
Instructions:
Consider the first four chapters of our course text.
• Select one key idea from each chapter that you found
particularly interesting,
engaging, surprising, or noteworthy.
• Write an essay of 2-3 pages in which you briefly describe the
four key ideas you
selected, citing Weiss.
• Explain why the key ideas are compelling, engaging, or
otherwise appealing.

64. • Draw connections between these key ideas and your current
business
experiences, either as an employee, a manager, or a consumer.
Requirements:
• A Word document, written in third person with no use of first-
person “I.”
• 2-3 pages, excluding the Title and Reference page.
• APA format, including in-text citations for referenced works.
• At least one resource cited, the textbook by Weiss.
Be sure to read the criteria by which your work will be
evaluated before you write
and again after you write.
BUS340 – Business Ethics
Midterm Reflective Essay
Evaluation Rubric for Midterm Reflective Essay Assignment
CRITERIA Deficient Needs
Improvement
Proficient Exemplary
(0-11 Points) (12-15 Points) (16-19 Points) (20 Points)

65. Content Does not
respond to the
writing prompt,
addressing
each of the
required
elements in an
academic
voice.
Somewhat
responds to the
writing prompt,
addressing each
of the required
elements in an
academic voice.
Mostly
responds to the
writing prompt,
addressing
each of the
required
elements in an
academic
voice.
Responds fully
to the writing
prompt,
addressing
each of the
required
elements in an

66. academic
voice.
(0-5 points) (6-7 points) (8-9 points) (10 points)
Summary and
Paraphrase
Does not rely
on summary
and
paraphrase to
demonstrate
understanding;
significantly
more than 10%
is direct quote.
Somewhat relies
on summary and
paraphrase to
demonstrate
understanding;
more than 10%
is direct quote.
Mostly relies on
summary and
paraphrase to
demonstrate
understanding;
slightly more
than 10% is
direct quote.
Relies on
summary and

67. paraphrase to
demonstrate
understanding;
no more than
10% of the
submission is
direct quote.
Clear and
Professional
Writing and
APA Format
Errors impede
professional
presentation;
guidelines not
followed.
Significant errors
that do not
impede
professional
presentation.
Few errors that
do not impede
professional
presentation.
Writing and
format are
clear,
professional,
APA compliant,
and error free.

68. (0-2 points) (3 points) (4 points) (5 points)
Resources 0 resources. 0-1 resource,
does not include
Weiss.
1 resource,
including
Weiss.
1 or more
resources,
including
Weiss.
(0-2 points) (3 points) (4 points) (5 points)
Page Count Less than 1
page.
1 page. 2 pages. 3 pages.