Fatigue Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Fatigue, including details on chronic fatigue syndrome, exhaustion, causes, diagnosis.

A controlled investigation into the psychological determinants of fatigue.

Craig A, Tran Y, Wijesuriya N, Boord P

Department of Health Sciences, University of Technology, P.O. Box 123 Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. a.craig@uts.edu.au

Driver fatigue is associated with risks of road accidents that result in injury and death. Research has been limited by several issues such as confusion over definitions, how best to measure fatigue, and the contribution of psychological factors to fatigue. This study addressed these limitations by investigating the relationship between psychological factors and fatigue. Participants were assessed and were required to perform a monotonous task till they tired. Results found few psychological factors to be related to physiological and performance decrement fatigue outcome measures. However, psychological factors were found to correlate consistently with self-reported fatigue. The results suggest that fatigue is associated with a predisposition to be anxious, depressive, less self-assured, more conscientious (rule bound), less socially bold, less adaptable and low vigour. The results indicate that future research should employ a range of fatigue outcome measures in order to best understand what factors contribute to fatigue.

Published 6 March 2006 in Biol Psychol, 72(1): 78-87.
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