Assessing the Power of the HEXACO to Predict Professional Burnout Among Catholic Priests in Italy

This study tests the application of the HEXACO among Catholic priests and the power of this six factor model of personality to predict scores on the Francis Burnout Inventory among priests. Data provided by 264 priests serving in Italy lead to two conclusions. In this population three of the six scales of the HEXACO failed to display adequate levels of internal consistency reliability (emotionality, agreeableness, openness to experience). High scores of extraversion and conscientiousness predicted higher scores of satisfaction in ministry. Low scores of extraversion, conscientiousness, and honesty and humility predicted higher scores of emotional exhaustion in ministry. The role of the honesty and humility factor in predicting negative affect but not positive affect supports the balanced affect model of professional burnout that views positive and negative affect as partly independent systems.