Abstract: 20 secondary school teachers in china’s rural area were interviewed and content analysis was conducted. It was found that interpersonal depletion and social prejudice played an important role in causing their job burnout. Based on the results of the interview, an indigenous Chinese job characteristics inventory for secondary school teachers was developed. 266 participants completed the questionnaire. Factor analysis indicated a 4-factor structure: Lack of Social Support, Business, Interpersonal Depletion and Social Prejudice. Interpersonal depletion and social prejudice contributed an incremental variance of more than 5% in predicting total score of job burnout and lack of passion score. Interpersonal depletion affected job burnout via energy exhaustion, whereas social prejudice affected job burnout via all three paths. The present study revealed the two important factors that affecting job burnout among secondary school teachers in china’s rural area: interpersonal depletion and social prejudice

Key words: job burnout, secondary school teachers, job characteristics, interpersonal depletion, social prejudice