Date of Award

12-2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Kara Wettersten

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to expand on research regarding levels of job satisfaction, burnout, and counselor self-efficacy within the field of psychology and particularly among correctional and community psychologists; explore the differences between correctional and community psychologists specifically in relation to levels job satisfaction, burnout, and self-efficacy; and examine difference and/or similarities in work environments and personality traits of correctional psychologists and community psychologists. The instruments used to measure job satisfaction, burnout, counselor self-efficacy, work environment, and personality were the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Counselor Self-Estimate Inventory, Work Environment Scale-10, and the International Personality Item Pool-Five Factor Model, respectively. Participants included 137 doctoral level psychologists working in either correctional or community settings across the United States. The correctional psychologist participants consisted of 41 state prison psychologists and 36 federal prison psychologists. The community psychologist participants consisted of 60 doctoral level psychologists working in various community mental health settings. The hypotheses of the study were the following: (a) different levels of job satisfaction, burnout, counselor self-efficacy, and perceptions of work environment would be found between correctional and community psychologists, (b) a moderate negative correlation would exist between burnout and perceptions of work environment, (c) a moderate positive correlation would be found between burnout and neuroticism, (d) a moderate negative correlation would exist between burnout and extraversion, ( e) a moderate negative correlation would exist between counselor self-efficacy and burnout, and (f) in order of contributing variance, the following factors would add significantly to the prediction of job satisfaction - work environment, burnout, self-efficacy, and setting. The results of the current study indicated that correctional and community psychologists significantly differed in levels of depersonalization aspect of burnout and conflict aspects of work environment, but not in levels of job satisfaction, counselor self-efficacy, or personality traits. Additionally, several significant relationships were found among job satisfaction, burnout, counselor self-efficacy, work environment, and personality.

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