Developmental heterogeneity of school burnout across the transition from upper secondary school to higher education: A 9-year follow-up study

This study utilized piecewise linear growth mixture analysis to examine the developmental heterogeneity of school burnout among a sample of 513 (67.6% females) Finnish students as they transitioned from upper secondary school to higher education (ages 17–25 years). Encompassing five measurement points (two before the transition and three after), our results revealed four distinct burnout trajectory profiles, including (a) High and Decreasing (Profile 1), (b) Moderate and Decreasing (Profile 2), (c) Low and Increasing (Profile 3), and (d) Low and Stable (Profile 4). High initial levels of self-esteem and mastery-extrinsic goals served as personal resources and high-performance goals served as personal risk factors, making students more likely to belong to more (i.e., Profile 4) or less (e.g., Profile 1) adaptive profiles of burnout trajectories, respectively. Profile 4 displayed the lowest and most stable levels of burnout, thus protecting students from adverse outcomes like school dropout, underachievement, and substance use. Conversely, Profile 1 displayed the highest and least stable levels of burnout and was associated with higher risk of burnout, lower academic achievement, greater alcohol use and problems, and higher drug use relative to the other trajectory profiles. Together, these findings offer novel person-centered, longitudinal insight into the developmental heterogeneity of burnout across the transition to higher education and lend support for the self-equilibrium hypothesis in the context of school burnout. Importantly, our results underscore the importance of early intervention efforts aimed at increasing mastery goals and self-esteem to prevent burnout and its associated consequences.