Psychological Capital Mediates the Relationship Between Problematic Smartphone Use and Learning Burnout in Chinese Medical Undergraduates and Postgraduates: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Learning burnout is a pressing issue among Chinese medical undergraduates and Postgraduates and has drawn continuous attention worldwide. Studies have found that problematic smartphone use could affect learning burnout, but more research is needed in this direction. Furthermore, few studies focused on the mediating effect of psychological capital on the relationship between problematic smartphone use and learning burnout. The present study was a cross-sectional survey that recruited 1,800 participants from a medical university in Chongqing, China. A questionnaire based on the Mobile Phone Addiction Tendency Scale, Psychological Capital Questionnaire, Learning Burnout Scale, and demographic variables were administered to these students, and 1,475 provided valid responses (81.94%). 771 were undergraduates (52.3%) and 704 were postgraduates (47.7%). Hierarchical regression and the bootstrap method were used to examine the mediating effect of psychological capital. After controlling for demographic variables, problematic smartphone use positively predicted learning burnout in undergraduates (β = 0.328, p < 0.01) and in postgraduates (β = 0.342, p < 0.01). The partial mediating effect of psychological capital was 0.068 in undergraduates and 0.074 in postgraduates, accounting for 20.67 and 21.64%, respectively, of the total effect of problematic smartphone use on learning burnout. All the 95% confidence intervals (CI) did not contain 0. Problematic smartphone use can directly predict learning burnout and their relationship was mediated by psychological capital in Chinese medical undergraduates and postgraduates. Strategies to alleviating problematic smartphone use and enhance psychological capital in medical undergraduates and postgraduates may provide useful suggestions for future interventions on dealing with learning burnout in Chinese medical undergraduates and postgraduates.

Academic Burnout and Problematic Smartphone Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effects of Anxiety and Resilience

“…Supporting Hypothesis 1, we observed that academic burnout positively predicted problematic smartphone use, which concurs with previous findings ( 28 ). According to the previous studies ( 30 , 50 ), academic burnout is linked with the negative emotions of an individual.…”

“…Given these, individuals as such are more likely to overuse their smartphones. To relieve emotional exhaustion and frustration due to academic inefficacy, a student with academic burnout would turn to smartphone use for relaxation; however, when this intention becomes out of control, problematic smartphone use would be intrigued ( 28 ).…”

Physical Exercise and Psychological Distress: The Mediating Roles of Problematic Mobile Phone Use and Learning Burnout among Adolescents

“…The IE 3 pathway indicated that physical exercise was sequentially correlated with problematic mobile phone use in the first step and further affected the onset of learning burnout, which was associated with the risk of psychological distress. Researchers are increasingly focusing on the association between problematic mobile phone use and learning burnout [34,74]. Our results supported such a positive association, that is, increase in the former was associated with increase in the latter.…”

Prevalence of smartphone addiction among Asian medical students: A meta-analysis of multinational observational studies

“…Smartphone addiction mainly refers to an owner’s dependence on or addiction to their smartphones, as well as an uncontrollable fear of being without a mobile phone or of not having contact with the mobile phone (Farooqui et al, 2018). It has been reported that problematic smartphone use was positively associated with learning burnout among Chinese medical undergraduates and postgraduates (Zhang et al, 2021b). In addition, it has been confirmed that problematic smartphone use is significantly correlated with sleep quality and negatively associated with academic achievement (Ibrahim et al, 2018).…”