Jiantao Lu, Yu Wang, Xinjing Liu, Qian Zhang, Yuqin Yan
{"title":"Psychological mechanisms of healthy lifestyle and academic burnout: a moderated mediation model.","authors":"Jiantao Lu, Yu Wang, Xinjing Liu, Qian Zhang, Yuqin Yan","doi":"10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1533693","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Academic burnout is a prevalent phenomenon among college students. According to the Conservation of Resources Theory, when there is an imbalance between invested resources and expected returns, individuals may suffer from academic or job burnout. If an individual has sufficient resources, these resources may relieve the negative problem. Healthy lifestyle is believed to improve brain health and provide resources. However, limited research has examined the psychological mechanisms that link academic burnout and a multidimensional healthy lifestyle.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A sample of 1,186 undergraduate students from freshmen to seniors were recruited using the stratified cluster random sampling method. The participants completed online questionnaires that assessed the healthiness of their lifestyle, dormitory conflict coping style, and academic burnout in April 2021. Bivariate correlation and a moderated mediation model were constructed to examine the relationships among these variables.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The results indicated that (1) healthy lifestyle was negatively correlated with academic burnout (<i>r</i> = -0.496, <i>p</i> < 0.001), coping styles of competition (<i>r</i> = -0.281, <i>p</i> < 0.001) and avoidance (<i>r</i> = -0.210, <i>p</i> < 0.001), but positively correlated with coping styles of cooperation (<i>r</i> = 0.342, <i>p</i> < 0.001) and obedience (<i>r</i> = 0.134, <i>p</i> < 0.001); (2) academic burnout was positively correlated with coping styles of competition (<i>r</i> = 0.331, <i>p</i> < 0.001) and avoidance (<i>r</i> = 0.305, <i>p</i> < 0.001) and negatively correlated with coping styles of cooperation (<i>r</i> = -0.227, <i>p</i> < 0.001); and (3) the direct path of healthy lifestyle on academic burnout was partially mediated by coping styles of competition (effect = -0.04, 95%CI: [-0.05,-0.03]) and avoidance (effect = -0.03, 95%CI: [-0.04,-0.02]), which was moderated by gender (<i>β</i> = -0.48, <i>p</i> = 0.007).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The findings offer valuable insights into the psychological mechanisms underlying the association between academic burnout and multidimensional healthy lifestyle among general college students, as indicated that college students with healthier lifestyles tend to use fewer coping styles of competition and avoidance, leading to a lower level of academic burnout. Such effect is more pronounced among female college students. This study provides a new perspective for the prevention and intervention in college students' academic burnout.</p>","PeriodicalId":12525,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Psychology","volume":"16 ","pages":"1533693"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11968653/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Frontiers in Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1533693","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: Academic burnout is a prevalent phenomenon among college students. According to the Conservation of Resources Theory, when there is an imbalance between invested resources and expected returns, individuals may suffer from academic or job burnout. If an individual has sufficient resources, these resources may relieve the negative problem. Healthy lifestyle is believed to improve brain health and provide resources. However, limited research has examined the psychological mechanisms that link academic burnout and a multidimensional healthy lifestyle.
Methods: A sample of 1,186 undergraduate students from freshmen to seniors were recruited using the stratified cluster random sampling method. The participants completed online questionnaires that assessed the healthiness of their lifestyle, dormitory conflict coping style, and academic burnout in April 2021. Bivariate correlation and a moderated mediation model were constructed to examine the relationships among these variables.
Results: The results indicated that (1) healthy lifestyle was negatively correlated with academic burnout (r = -0.496, p < 0.001), coping styles of competition (r = -0.281, p < 0.001) and avoidance (r = -0.210, p < 0.001), but positively correlated with coping styles of cooperation (r = 0.342, p < 0.001) and obedience (r = 0.134, p < 0.001); (2) academic burnout was positively correlated with coping styles of competition (r = 0.331, p < 0.001) and avoidance (r = 0.305, p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with coping styles of cooperation (r = -0.227, p < 0.001); and (3) the direct path of healthy lifestyle on academic burnout was partially mediated by coping styles of competition (effect = -0.04, 95%CI: [-0.05,-0.03]) and avoidance (effect = -0.03, 95%CI: [-0.04,-0.02]), which was moderated by gender (β = -0.48, p = 0.007).
Conclusion: The findings offer valuable insights into the psychological mechanisms underlying the association between academic burnout and multidimensional healthy lifestyle among general college students, as indicated that college students with healthier lifestyles tend to use fewer coping styles of competition and avoidance, leading to a lower level of academic burnout. Such effect is more pronounced among female college students. This study provides a new perspective for the prevention and intervention in college students' academic burnout.
期刊介绍：
Frontiers in Psychology is the largest journal in its field, publishing rigorously peer-reviewed research across the psychological sciences, from clinical research to cognitive science, from perception to consciousness, from imaging studies to human factors, and from animal cognition to social psychology. Field Chief Editor Axel Cleeremans at the Free University of Brussels is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians and the public worldwide. The journal publishes the best research across the entire field of psychology. Today, psychological science is becoming increasingly important at all levels of society, from the treatment of clinical disorders to our basic understanding of how the mind works. It is highly interdisciplinary, borrowing questions from philosophy, methods from neuroscience and insights from clinical practice - all in the goal of furthering our grasp of human nature and society, as well as our ability to develop new intervention methods.
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