Antecedents of school burnout: A longitudinal mediation study

Abstract

School burnout is a growing problem among university students. This two-wave longitudinal study examined the mediating effects of academic self-efficacy, grit, and academic resilience in the relationship between academic perfectionism and helicopter parenting, and school burnout in university students based on the Theory of Self- vs. Externally-Regulated Learning (SRL vs. ERL), and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). A total of 481 college students completed measurements at Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2) (Mage = 22.2; 61.5% female, 38.5% male). For analysis, the SPSS version 26 and Mplus version 7.0 were used. The results reveal that academic self-efficacy, grit, and academic resilience at Time 2 mediate the relationship between academic perfectionism and helicopter parent attitude at Time 1 and school burnout at Time 2. These findings reveal the key role of self-efficacy, grit, and academic resilience in reducing school burnout.