School Burnout Inventory: Factorial Validity, Reliability, and Measurement Invariance in a Chilean Sample of High School Students

This brief report assessed the psychometric validity and gender invariance of the School Burnout Inventory (SBI) –a measure of students’ exhaustion, cynicism, and inadequacy– in a convenience sample of 972 high school Chilean students ranging between 12 and 18 years old. The results showed that: (1) the SBI produces adequate scores in terms of reliability; (2) two models (one solution of three related factors and one of second-order and three first-order factors) fitted adequately fit to our sample and was invariant across gender; and (3) the SBI scores were significantly related to other related constructs (i.e., study-related emotions, academic psychological capital, and academic engagement). Overall, the SBI was found to be a reliable and valid inventory to assess school burnout in Chilean high school students.

How to Make Students Happy During Periods of Online Learning: The Effect of Playfulness on University Students’ Study Outcomes

University students’ study outcomes, their psychological wellbeing in particular, have been considered closely by both education researchers and practitioners. It is worth exploring ways to improve the quality of life of students, especially during the pandemic period when millions of students around the world have taken online courses at home. This paper tests the influence of playfulness on the levels of life satisfaction and school burnout of college students. To examine our hypotheses, we distributed our survey to 353 Chinese university students (mean age 20.10 years) in their online learning semester in 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Correlation analysis and path analysis were applied to analyze the data. The results show that playfulness positively relates to life satisfaction and negatively correlates to school burnout. Moreover, a sense of control mediates these relationships. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Adolescents’ School Burnout: A Comparative Study between Italy and Switzerland

This study aimed to analyze and compare students’ school burnout levels in Switzerland and Italy. Previous research has confirmed that female and older students in particular are highly exposed to burnout risk. Nevertheless, few studies have observed this phenomenon through a cross-national comparison. Data on burnout were collected from a sample of 840 adolescents (Italian students = 497; Swiss students = 343) (Mage = 14.98; SD = 1.06; Female = 50%). Burnout was measured using the School Burnout Inventory, and cross-cultural measurement invariance was tested. The results showed that this burnout measure was equivalent between the Italian and Swiss samples. A multivariate analysis of variance was next conducted to investigate the effects of age, gender, and nationality. Results partially confirmed our hypotheses, showing the effect of age but not of gender in explaining burnout differences among students, and between and within-group variance. In particular, the burnout risk was found to be higher in late adolescence (age 16 to 18, Mexhaution = 2.73; Mcynicism = 2.99; MInadequacy = 3.14) than in mid-adolescence (age 13 to 15 Mexhaution = 2.95; Mcynicism = 3.43; MInadequacy = 3.54). Furthermore, Italian adolescents were more exhausted and cynical (Mexhaution = 2.99; Mcynicism = 3.26) than their Swiss peers (Mexhaution = 2.52; Mcynicism = 2.93) when controlling for age and gender. Findings suggest further investigation of the role played by educational and cultural values may be warranted.

Between Academic Resilience and Burnout: The Moderating Role of Satisfaction on School Context Relationships

School burnout is considered an extreme form of maladjustment that can seriously undermine the academic path of students who are affected. Previous studies have focused on possible protective factors, highlighting the role of academic resilience, i.e., the ability to overcome chronic adversity in the school setting. Notwithstanding this, it is equally important to explore the role of the classroom environment and the satisfaction felt by the student toward relationships with teachers and classmates. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between academic resilience and burnout and to explore the moderating role of relationship satisfaction with teachers and classmates. A sample of 576 Italian students (Female = 53.1%), aged 14–18 (M = 15.73, SD = 1.56) were involved in the study. Correlations and moderated regressions analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. The results show academic resilience and satisfaction as inversely related to school burnout. Furthermore, the satisfaction on the relationships with classmates moderated the relation between academic resilience and burnout. Findings were discussed by highlighting the importance of promoting both individual and contextual factors to prevent burnout risk.

Associations between Perceived Child-Parent Relationships and School Engagement among 9–11 Aged Children

School engagement has been shown to protect students from dropping out of education, depression and school burnout. The aim of this Finnish study was to explore the association between child-parent relationships and how much 99,686 children aged 9–11 years liked school. The data were based on the 2019 School Health Promotion Study, conducted by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. This asked children whether they liked school or not and about their child-parent relationships. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine the data separately for boys and girls and the results are presented as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). According to the results, girls showed more school engagement than boys (81.9% versus 74.0%), and it was more common in children who felt that their parents communicated with them in a supportive way. This association was slightly stronger for girls than boys (OR 2.46 95% CI 2.33–2.59 versus OR 2.10 95% CI 2.02–2.20). It is important that child-parent relationships and communication are considered during school health examinations, so that children who have lower support at home can be identified.

Trait Emotional Intelligence and School Burnout Discriminate Between High and Low Alexithymic Profiles: A Study With Female Adolescents

Alexithymic traits, which entail finding it difficult to recognize and describe one’s own emotions, are linked with poor trait emotional intelligence (TEI) and difficulties in identifying and managing stressors. There is evidence that alexithymia may have detrimental consequences for wellbeing and health, beginning in adolescence. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the prevalence and incidence of alexithymia in teenage girls, testing the statistical power of TEI and student burnout to discriminate between high- and low-alexithymic subjects. A sample of 884 female high school students (mean age 16.2 years, age range 14–19) attending three Italian academic-track high schools (social sciences and humanities curriculum) completed self-report measures of alexithymia, school burnout, and TEI. Main descriptive statistics and correlational analysis preceded the discriminant analysis. The mean alexithymia scores suggest a high prevalence of alexithymia in female adolescents; as expected, this trait was negatively correlated with TEI and positively associated with school burnout. Participants with high vs. low alexithymia profiles were discriminated by a combination of TEI and burnout scores. High scores for the emotionality and self-control dimensions of TEI were strongly associated with membership of the low alexithymia group; high scores for the emotional exhaustion dimension of school burnout were indicative of membership of the high alexithymia group. These findings suggest crucial focuses for educational intervention: efforts to reduce the risk of emotional exhaustion and school burnout should especially concentrate on enhancing emotional awareness and self-control skills, both strongly associated with low levels of alexithymia.