Student Burnout in Higher Education: A Demand-Resource Model Approach

Abstract

Student burnout is a serious problem in higher education. It is associated with harmful consequences, such as decreased engagement, performance, and motivation, which can lead to dropout. The job demand-resource model of burnout is a comprehensive framework to grasp the factors related to the emergence of burnout. Although numerous studies claim its suitability in explaining burnout in work environments, its applicability in the educational context is less explored. The study aimed to analyze the structure and reliability of the newly developed University Demand-Resource Questionnaire (UDRQ) and to explore the links between its subscales and symptoms of student burnout. Using the online survey method, 743 Hungarian undergraduate students participated in the data collection. The student version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory was used in addition to the UDRQ. In the data analysis procedure, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling were utilized. The confirmatory factor analysis identified a five-factor structure related to both demands and resources. Correlation analysis revealed burnout to be associated positively to the subscales of demands and negatively to resources. Structural equation modeling analysis indicated that all five demands and two resources subscales can be used to build a model that predicts a significant proportion of the variance of student burnout scores. The findings suggest the demand-resource theory is an appropriate framework to predict burnout in higher education. The newly developed UDRQ has stable structure and good reliability and can be a useful tool in subsequent research related to student burnout.

Impact of cognitive-behavioral motivation on student engagement

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An Italian Adaptation of the Burnout Assessment Tool-Core Symptoms (BAT-C) for Students

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Developing a framework for culture-based interventions for well-being in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

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