AbstractA representative sample of 74 nurses working in a comparatively large Australian psychiatric hospital completed a questionnaire which contained scales that reflected the elements of the self‐control model of human stress proposed by Carver and Scheier. Canonical correlation analysis was used to statistically relate proposed elements of the self‐control model to both intensity and frequency subscale scores of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Interpretation of the complicated array of structure coefficients derived for four significant canonical variates provided support for the basic tenets of the self‐control model. Notably, those participants who reported higher intensities of emotional exhaustion–depersonalization also reported higher scores on operational measures of self‐focus and negative affect, a greater range of discrepant aspects of their job, and more pessimism regarding improvement in those same aspects. A framework for elaboration of the model through future research is proposed.