Dispositional mindfulness associated with less academic burnout among Muslim students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In the study reported on here we examined the potential mediating role of perceived stress in the association between dispositional mindfulness and academic burnout among Muslim students. Seven hundred and seventy-five Yemeni university students were enlisted to complete the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). The results show that dispositional mindfulness was negatively correlated with perceived stress, emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced academic efficacy. Moreover, perceived stress was positively related to emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced academic efficacy. Structural equation modeling revealed that the mediation model fit the data well. That is, perceived stress partly mediated the dispositional mindfulness-burnout association. We found that dispositional mindfulness could predict academic burnout among Muslim students, and perceived stress may be one of the underlying factors of this association.