Background Job stress and job burnout have become important factors affecting the mental health of populations.

Objective This investigation explores the relationship between job burnout and job stress, and whether coping style is an adjustable mediator between them.

Methods Using cluster random sampling method, 1 500 coal miners from 5 coal mine enterprises in Xinjiang were selected from December 2019 to January 2020 and invited to complete the Job Burnout Questionnaire, the Job Stress Questionnaire, and the Simple Coping Style Questionnaire. Job burnout included three dimensions:emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced sense of accomplishment; the higher the score, the more serious the job burnout. Job stress included three dimensions:job demand, job control, and social support; the higher ratio of demand to control (DCR) was associated with a higher level of job stress. Coping styles included positive coping and negative coping; the higher the score, the higher level of corresponding coping style. SPSS 21.0 software was used to perform t test, analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and mediating effect test.

Results A total of 1 500 questionnaires were distributed, 1 282 questionnaires were returned, and the recovery rate was 85.5%. The score of coal miners' job burnout was 52.17±14.71, that of positive coping was 15.94±6.74, that of negative coping was 7.98±4.98, and the DCR was 0.98±0.27. There were significant differences in job burnout scores among categories of sex, age, length of service, education level, shift work, and marital status (P < 0.05). And there were significant differences in DCR among categories of length of service, education level, type of work, and income (P < 0.05). The Spearman correlation analysis results showed that positive coping score was negatively correlated with job burnout score (r_s=-0.233) and DCR (r_s=-0.125) (P < 0.01); negative coping score and DCR were positively correlated with job burnout score (r_s=0.120, 0.115, P < 0.01); social support score was negatively correlated with the scores of burnout dimensions (except emotional exhaustion) (P < 0.05), and positively correlated with positive coping score (r_s=0.193, P < 0.01). The results of regression analysis found that DCR had a positive effect on job burnout and negative coping (b=0.101, 0.077, P < 0.01) and a negative effect on positive coping (b=-0.123, P < 0.01); positive coping and negative coping had opposite effects on job burnout (b=-0.290, 0.185, P < 0.01). The total effect (effect value was 0.111 6) and direct effect (effect value was 0.065 7) of job stress on job burnout were significant (P < 0.05). The mediating effect value of coping style was 0.0459, and the contribution rate was 41.13%.

Conclusion Coping style plays a mediating role in the relationship between job stress and job burnout.