Abstract
Research shows that students experience substantial levels of burnout during their studies. This study explores the role of personal demands on students’ well-being. After providing a conceptualization of personal demands, we examined the role of personal demands in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. Based on the Transactional Model of Stress, we hypothesized that students with high personal demands experience more burnout symptoms because they perceive more elements in their study as demanding (i.e., mediation hypothesis). At the same time, we hypothesized that the associations between study demands and burnout might be stronger for students with high versus low personal demands (i.e., moderation hypothesis). In order to test both hypotheses, we collected data from 578 master students. The data were analyzed with latent moderation and mediation analyses in Mplus. The results showed that students’ personal demands predicted burnout symptoms via the perception of study demands. Personal demands did not moderate the relationship between study demands and burnout. The findings of the present study expand the JD-R model by indicating that personal demands relate to burnout symptoms via the perception of study demands. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Highlights
Feeling exhausted, losing control over one’s emotions, and mentally distancing oneself from one’s studies are nowadays common experiences among students
To test Hypothesis 1, which predicted that personal demands would be positively associated with burnout via the perception of study demands, we examined the results of Model 2
We theorized that personal demands might hinder students to successfully handle challenging study requirements and feel confident about their capability for successful enactment, which would increase the strength of the relationship between study demands and student burnout
Summary
Feeling exhausted, losing control over one’s emotions, and mentally distancing oneself from one’s studies are nowadays common experiences among students. Empirical studies on student well-being indicate that students in higher education experience substantial levels of burnout symptoms during their studies [1,2,3]. These burnout symptoms seem to be partly caused by the level of study demands that students experience [4,5,6,7]. Workaholism, for instance, has been found to be a relevant demanding personal factor for employee well-being [8]. As it is not yet clear what the role of demanding personal aspects are in relation to student burnout, we will examine this issue in the present study
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