previous research has confounded age with work experience, and levels of burnout have therefore been assumed to depend on early or late stage in the career, rather than on age (Maslach et al., 2001; Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998).

The two trajectories with highest levels of burnout were defined by a greater share of young persons (under 25 years of age), who did not have own children, and who reported high levels on health-risk factors like performance-based self-esteem, negative affectivity, depressive mood, alcohol consumption, stress from choice of occupation and who felt unprepared for working life. In contrast, individuals defining the two trajectories with lowest levels of burnout were often older (over 35 years of age), had own children,