Validation of an Academic Burnout Single-Item Measure (ABSI) in Mexican undergraduates: associations with PHQ-4 and perceived stress

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Academic burnout is a relevant concern in higher education, yet brief and valid instruments for its assessment remain scarce in Latin America. Having a reliable instrument to effectively evaluate burnout supports in developing contextualized strategies to mitigate burnout effects. This study examines the validity of the Academic Burnout Single-Item Measure (ABSI) in 296 Mexican undergraduates. The ABSI was designed to capture the central dimension of burnout, emotional exhaustion, through a single item rated on a five-level ordinal scale. Convergent validity was tested against two external criteria: the Patient Health Questionnaire–4 (PHQ-4), a well-established screening tool for anxiety and depression, and the Stress Single-Item Measure (SSI), which evaluates perceived stress. Results showed that ABSI responses were distributed across the full range of categories with clear differentiation between thresholds. The ABSI correlated strongly with PHQ-4 total scores (ρ = 0.53) and moderately with the SSI (τ = 0.44), associations that remained significant after controlling for demographic variables. Findings support the ABSI as a brief and culturally pertinent indicator of academic burnout, suitable for rapid screening and large-scale monitoring of student well-being, and for institutional use in detecting students at risk of dropout or mental health crises.