Academic Inefficacy Research Articles

Construction and validation of academic burnout scale

This study constructs and validates a scale for measuring academic burnout among university students. Drawing from empirical evidence and systematic scale construction procedures, the questionnaire items were developed through literature review and focus group discussions. Data from 348 and 774 respondents respectively underwent exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The resulting scale identifies six dimensions: parental/Guardian pressure, exhaustion, negative peer relations, subjective overload, academic inefficacy, and negative teacher-student relation. By providing a specialized tool for identifying academic burnout, this study aims to facilitate research efforts in higher education institutions. This scale addresses the lack of accurate assessment methods for academic burnout, offering insights into its components.

Psychological Distress, Burnout, and Business Student Turnover: The Role of Resilience as a Coping Mechanism.

This study’s purpose is to examine whether resilience, conceptualized by Connor and Davidson (2003) as one’s capacity to persevere and rebound under adversity, was a potential mitigating and/or moderating factor in the dynamic between both psychological distress and academic burnout, and student attrition. We concurrently distributed a survey containing a series of psychometric instruments to a convenience sample of 1,119 students pursuing various business majors at four geographically diverse U.S. universities. Via structural equations modeling analysis, we measured the associations between psychological distress, academic burnout, and departure intentions, and investigated whether student resilience levels are associated with lower distress, burnout, and departure intentions levels. The results indicated significant positive associations between psychological distress and each of the elements of academic burnout, and significant positive associations between the academic burnout elements and departure intentions. However, while resilience did not moderate those associations, it did attenuate them through its direct negative associations with both psychological distress and the cynicism and academic inefficacy elements of academic burnout. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for business educators seeking to enhance individual resilience levels as a coping strategy to combat voluntary student turnover, and better prepare students for the demands of the workplace.

The effects of technostress, intolerance of uncertainty, and ICT competence on learning burnout during COVID-19: a moderated mediation examination

ABSTRACT During global COVID-19 outbreak, universities in many countries were closed, and students experienced the exclusive online learning as never before. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) in the effects of university students’ technostress caused by remote learning on three dimensions of learning burnout, namely emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficacy, and possible moderating role of gender, ICT competence, and course load in the indirect effects of university students’ technostress on their learning burnout mediated by IU. Altogether 801 Chinese students from 72 universities voluntarily participated in this study by filling out an online questionnaire consisting of Technostress Survey, Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey, and Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale-12. The participants reported relatively low technostress, learning burnout with a moderate level of IU during online learning. Structural equation modelling showed that: 1) technostress positively predicted IU, emotional exhaustion, and academic inefficacy; 2) IU partially mediated the effects of technostress on emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficacy. 3) ICT competence moderated the indirect effects of technostress on emotional exhaustion via IU while moderating effects of gender and course load were not found.

Effects of Physical Exercise on Burnout Syndrome in University Students.

Burnout syndrome has a negative impact on university students' health worldwide. Global prevalence of each dimension of the syndrome is estimated at 55.4% for emotional exhaustion, 31.6% for cynicism and 30.9% for academic inefficacy. Evaluate the efficacy of physical exercise in reducing burnout levels in university students. We carried out an investigation in students from the Technical University of Ambato, Ecuador. Students were in different career tracks, randomly selected, and were assigned to three different groups with pre-test and post-test measurements: two intervention groups (aerobic and strength exercise) and one control group (no exercise). The evaluation instrument was the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey, whose dimensions are exhaustion, cynicism and academic inefficacy. We also evaluated heart rate variability. The aerobic exercise group reduced cynicism by 21.1% (d = 0.252), inefficacy 13.1% (d = 0.397) and exhaustion by 31.0% (d = 0.532). The strength exercise group reduced cynicism by 27.4% (d = 0.315), inefficacy by 21.7% (d = 0.704) and exhaustion by 19.6% (d = 0.299). In the control group, exhaustion and inefficacy increased by 10.1% (d = 0.128) and 4.4% (d = 0.129) respectively; instead, cynicism was reduced by 7.3% (d = 0.062).The aerobic exercise group had the greatest increase in heart rate variability (at 16.8%), followed by the strength group (16.6%) and the control group (5.2%). Physical exercise (both aerobic and strength) was effective in reducing burnout levels in university students.

Be Aware of Burnout! The Role of Changes in Academic Burnout in Problematic Facebook Usage among University Students.

Most previous research has examined the relationship between FB addiction and burnout level by conducting cross-sectional studies. Little is known about the impact of changes in burnout on FB addiction in an educational context. Through a two-way longitudinal survey of a student population sample (N = 115), this study examined the influence of changes in academic burnout over time and FB motives and importance (measured at the beginning and the end of the semester) on FB intrusion measured at the end of the academic semester. The findings show that: (1) increases in cynicism and in FB motives and importance significantly predicted time2 FB intrusion; (2) FB importance enhanced the prediction power of changes in the academic burnout total score, exhaustion and personal inefficacy, and reduced the regression coefficient of changes in cynicism; (3) the interaction effects between FB social motive use and changes in academic burnout, as well as between FB importance and personal inefficacy and exhaustion, accounted for a significant change in the explained variance of time2 FB intrusion. About 20–30% of the variance in time2 FB intrusion was explained by all the examined variables and by the interactions between them. The results suggest that changes in academic burnout and FB motives and importance are suppressive variables, as including these variables in the regression model all together changed the significance of the relationship between independent variables and FB intrusion.

Resilience, Psychological Distress, and Academic Burnout among Accounting Students*

ABSTRACTThis study's objective is to examine the role of resilience in the dynamic between academic burnout and psychological distress using a sample of US undergraduate accounting majors. It extends prior research—that is, García‐Izquierdo et al. (2018), who examine these relationships using a sample of Spanish nursing students. For this study, a survey instrument was concurrently administered to 443 accounting majors at four geographically dispersed universities. Two alternative models are tested. The first model positions resilience as an exogenous predictor, and dimensions of academic burnout antecedent to psychological distress. The results indicate a significant negative association between resilience, psychological distress, and each of the three academic burnout dimensions. In addition, emotional exhaustion and academic inefficacy have a significant positive association with psychological distress. The alternative model positions psychological distress antecedent to each of the academic burnout dimensions. The results indicate that resilience has a significant negative association with psychological distress, cynicism, and academic inefficacy, but not emotional exhaustion. Moreover, psychological distress has significant positive associations with each academic burnout dimension. In the alternative model specification, resilience is also found to moderate the association between psychological distress and academic inefficacy. This single moderating effect notwithstanding, the findings suggest that the primary role of resilience is that of a compensatory mechanism by acting as an independent exogenous predictor of distress and burnout.

Ya bir filolog İngilizce öğretmeni olursa? Yabancı dil öğretimi kaygısına ilişkin bir vaka incelemesi

This study aims to find out the factors affecting ELL (English Language and Literature) senior students’ foreign language teaching anxiety and reducing-strategies. The participants were ELL senior students (n=50) who were enrolled in the pedagogical formation certificate program at a state university in Turkey. Additionally, mentors of the study group (n=9) contributed to the research comparatively. The ELL seniors’ teaching experience lasted 10 weeks and they grasped most of the teaching skills as their mentors suggested. Nevertheless, one of the phenomena was the dead hand of something which is called anxiety. In this study, the researcher referred to ELL senior students as prospective teachers. The instruments involve prospective teachers’ diaries, micro-teaching videos, and open-ended interview questions. In the data collection process, the researcher has employed ‘content analysis’ to determine the categories and calculate the number of instances into the determining categories (Silverman, 2000). Then, each category was named according to the repeated units of speech. Both the prospective teachers and their mentors were asked to describe the anxiety-provoking factors and coping strategies. The results revealed that both prospective teachers and their mentors share some of the common beliefs on FLTA (Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety). That is, both of them put forward that lack of experience is a factor that causes anxiety. Apart from this, mentors associated foreign language teaching anxiety with personality traits and academic inefficacy. According to the findings of the study, the prospective teachers’ foreign language teaching anxiety is presented under 5 headings as follows; classroom management, public speaking anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, being observed by the students, and lack of experience.

Students' psychological characteristics and its relationship with exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficacy

This paper highlights the relationship between students' psychological characteristics with exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficacy. A sample of 247 students from Iranian colleges of agriculture participated in this study. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on studied variables including demographic characteristics, goal orientation, intelligence beliefs, general self-efficacy beliefs, and so on. Reliability and validity of instrument were determined through opinions of professors and application of Cronbach's alpha. The findings revealed that there were significant correlations between students' psychological characteristics with exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficacy. Finally, the findings showed that the most dominant determinant of exhaustion was general self-efficacy belief with a total effect of −0.400. Incremental intelligence belief and entity intelligence belief had the most effects on cynicism and academic inefficacy, with a total effect of −0.437 and 0.448, respectively. The findings have implications for professors to use teaching methods that encourage effective engagement of students in learning and for counsellors to give useful educational and psychological advices to students.

Students' psychological characteristics and its relationship with exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficacy

Students' psychological characteristics and its relationship with exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficacy

The Relationship Between Basic Psychological Needs and Academic Burnout in Medical Students

Background Academic burnout has several negative consequences such as decreased motivation, academic eagerness, and achievement among students. Objectives The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between basic psychological needs and academic burnout. Methods The current descriptive-correlational study was conducted among 233 students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences (140 females and 93 males) selected through stratified multistage sampling in the second semester of the 2016 - 2017 academic year. The participants responded to Breso Academic Burnout and Gagne Basic Psychological Needs questionnaires and provided their demographic information. Data were analyzed using SPSS (Version 22) using canonical correlation analysis. Results There was a significant negative correlation between academic burnout and autonomy (r = -0.296, P < 0.01), competence (r = -0.548, P < 0.01), and relatedness (r = -0.290, P < 0.01) needs. Canonical correlation coefficient was 0.61. The results of canonical analysis showed only one significant set of basic psychological needs and components of burnout. In addition, as psychological needs, especially the competence need, were satisfied more, the probability of academic burnout, especially in the academic inefficacy dimension, as the main component of academic burnout, was reduced. Conclusions The fulfillment of basic psychological needs, especially competence need, plays an important role in preventing academic inefficacy among students. Fulfilment of basic psychological needs in educational programs could be a protective factor against students' academic burnout and improve their academic performance.

Agricultural students’ academic burnout: the influence of employment challenges

ABSTRACTThis study deals with the relationship between students’ views on employment challenges and academic burnout. A survey was conducted among 247 students at Colleges of Agriculture, Iran. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire and were analysed descriptively and inferentially using SPSS/Windows. Questionnaire validity and reliability were confirmed by an experts’ panel consisting of faculty members in Tehran University and by calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, respectively. The findings indicated that there were positive and significant relationships between dimensions of academic burnout (emotional exhaustion, cynicism and academic inefficacy) with the five employment challenges (knowledge and skill (K&S), awareness and attitude (A&A), support (S), university and educational expectations (U&EE) and value of knowledge and learning (K&L)). According to standardised coefficients of regression analysis, A&A had the most effect on exhaustion and K&S had the most effects on cynicism and academic inefficacy.

Employment issues and its effect on academic burnout (case: agricultural students)

The purpose of this study was to investigate employment issues and its effect on academic burnout of students. The statistical population comprised students in colleges of agriculture at selected universities of Iran (N = 6352). For the study, 247 students were selected, using random sampling method. After developing a questionnaire, confirming validity and reliability of the questionnaire-by views of experts' panel and calculating Cronbach's alpha (employment issues = 0.78, exhaustion = 0.76, cynicism = 0.81, and academic inefficacy = 0.79), and collecting data, the five specific objectives were studies descriptively and inferentially using SPSS/Windows. The findings indicated that employment issues for agricultural students (by use of factor analysis) could be classified in five groups, including: knowledge and skill, awareness and attitude, support, university and educational expectations, and the value of knowledge and learning. In addition, regression analysis showed that about half of the variation of dependent variable (academic burnout) was defined by three variables (including awareness and attitude, knowledge and skill, and university and educational expectations).

The role of EFL learners’ demotivation, perceptions of classroom activities, and mastery goal in predicting their language achievement and burnout

The present study aims at delving into English as foreign language students’ demotivation, burnout, mastery goal orientation, and perceptions of classroom activities. This is accomplished by building a causal structural model through which the associations among the constructs are estimated. The Persian version of the 'de-motivation scale’ designed by Sakai and Kichuki (System 37:57-69, 2009) is used to assess demotivation. It measures six constructs: teachers, characteristics of classes, experiences of failure, class environment, class materials, and lack of interest. To gauge burnout, student version of ‘Maslach Burnout Inventory’ (Schaufeli et al., Psychology, 33(5):464-481, 2002) is employed. It measures three dimensions of burnout, namely, emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficacy. The Persian version of the ‘Students Perceptions of Classroom Activities’ scale designed by Gentry and Gable (My class activities: A survey instrument to assess students’ perceptions of interest, challenge, choice, and enjoyment in their classrooms, 2001) is utilized in determining student perceptions of their classes. The scale assesses four perceptions: interest, challenge, choice, and joy. Students’ goal orientation is measured by the translated version of ‘Achievement Goal Orientation Inventory’ designed by Midgley et al. (Contemporary Educational Psychology, 23 (2):113-31, 1998). The results display a good overall fit of the proposed model with the empirical data. In particular, demotivators positively and significantly predict student burnout and the two internal demotivators namely, ‘lack of interest’ and ‘experiences of failure’ negatively and significantly impact on student mastery goal orientation. The results also indicate that student burnout negatively and significantly predict student mastery goal orientation and positive perceptions of classroom activities. Student perceptions of interest and joy, on the other hand, positively and significantly play an important role in mastery goal orientation. Student perceptions and mastery goal orientation have positive effects on student achievement.

DE-MOTIVATORS, BURNOUT AND LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT IN AN IRANIAN EFL CONTEXT

The present study probed 250 English as foreign language (EFL) learners' de-motivation by investigating its role in students' burnout, i.e., a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long-term involvement in situations that are emotionally demanding or stressful. It also sought to examine the indirect impact of de-motivation and direct impact of burnout on language achievement among Iranian English learners. To do so, a two-phase study was designed. The first phase comprised an array of different steps to validate the Persian version of the 'de-motivation scale' designed by Sakai and Kichuki (2009). It measures six constructs: teachers, characteristics of classes, experiences of failure, class environment, class materials, and lack of interest. In the second phase, the researchers utilized the validated questionnaire along with the student version of Maslach Burnout Inventory (Schaufeli et al., 2002) to explore the relationship among students' de-motivation, their burnout, and achievement. The latter scale measures three dimensions of burnout, namely, emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficacy. The results of reliability estimates and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity indices of the Persian version of 'demotivation scale'. The findings of the second phase yielded via structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that students' de-motivation positively predicted students' burnout with 'class materials' and 'lack of interest' having the highest influence. Burnout in turn was found to negatively influence language achievement.

The Study of Academic Burnout in Students with High and Low Level of Self-efficacy

The purpose of this research was to study the academic burnout in university students with high-low level of self-efficacy. Therefore, 120 students in AllameTabatabei University completed academic burnout and self-efficacy questionnaires. Those students, whose scores were one standard deviation higher than the mean, had high self-efficacy but one standard deviation lower than the mean had low self-efficacy. Data was analyzed by T-test. The results showed there are negative relationships among self-efficacy, academic burnout variables and its components (academic exhaustion, academic uninterested and academic inefficacy).

Theoretical Review on Burnout Symptoms in Education

Burnout research has mostly been performed in human service fields. However, it has recently been expanded to cover diverse settings and even non-occupational samples, such as students. In this study, we defined the construct of academic burnout, which is the burnout experienced by students. Next, we described the concept of academic burnout by introducing measurements for assessing academic burnout. On the basis of the demand-control model (DCM) and effort-reward imbalance model (ERIM), which are the most predominant theoretical burnout models, we described the causal factors and the pathway to experiencing academic burnout symptoms. The ERIM was a more influential model than the DCM when explaining the academic burnout of Korean students. Based on the results of previous longitudinal studies on academic burnout, we recognized emotional exhaustion and academic inefficacy as the initial symptoms of academic burnout. Finally, we discussed the prevention and intervention programs with specific components that should be included in those programs.

Longitudinal Analysis of Academic Burnout in Korean Middle School Students

The purpose of the study was to investigate the longitudinal relationships between the initial values and slopes of three dimensions of burnout syndrome (i.e. emotional exhaustion, cynicism and academic inefficacy). The study utilized four-wave longitudinal data from a total of 367 (81.6% response rate) middle school students in South Korea. Comprising a 6-month interval survey, the first survey was conducted in June 2010, the second in December 2010, the third in June 2011 and the fourth in December 2011. All participants were 13-year-olds at the first and second surveys, and 14-year-olds at the third and fourth surveys. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey was used for each survey to assess the level of academic burnout. The longitudinal data were analysed using latent growth modelling. The results of the study indicated that high initial values (intercept) for emotional exhaustion were associated with a higher rate of increase (slope) in cynicism and academic inefficacy. On the other hand, high initial values for cynicism and academic inefficacy were associated with a lower rate of increase in the other dimensions. This longitudinal study should promote understanding of burned-out students and contribute to the literature by informing the design of prevention programmes for academic burnout.

The association of academic burnout with self-efficacy and quality of learning experience among Iranian students

The present study examines the relationship between academic burnout and quality of learning experience and self-efficacy among undergraduate students. The sample consisted of 233 undergraduate students (106 men and 127 women) who were selected by stratified random sampling method. The participants completed the Quality of Learning Experience Scale, Academic Burnout scale, and General Self-Efficacy scale. This study is particularly interesting in the context of Iran, known for its equality-striving and high-quality educational system. Iranian youth, compared with youth in many other countries, have a lower level of well-being. The antecedents of academic burnout are divided into two categories: internal and external variables. In most studies regarding to the issue, one category is used to predict the dependent variable. However, in this study we utilized both ones; self-efficacy was considered as internal and quality of learning experience was used as an external predictor. Correlation coefficients indicated that all relationships between academic burnout and its components with self-efficacy were statistically significant. Furthermore, academic burnout and all of its components had significant correlations with quality of learning experience. Also, the relationship between resources with emotional exhaustion and professor-student relationship with academic inefficacy were not significant. On the basis of the results, through our research, we will expand academic burnout literature by focusing on its external and internal antecedents. In addition, we conclude with theoretical and practical implications and propose a clear horizon for future researches.

Developmental process of academic burnout among Korean middle school students

This study examined the longitudinal relationships between three dimensions of academic burnout—emotional exhaustion, cynicism and academic inefficacy—by considering Korean middle school students. A total of 405 middle school students participated in the survey (Time 1: n=367, Time 2: n=382, Time 3: n=375). They were conducted at the end of every semester for three times at a 6-month interval (grade 7th-2, 8th-1 and 8th-2). Most participants were 13years old at the time of the first survey; 56.6% (n=229) of them were female. We used the Korean version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory—Student Survey to measure the level of academic burnout; we also employed autoregressive cross-lagged modeling with Amos 18.0 to explore the longitudinal relationships between the three dimensions. As a result, all autoregressive coefficients were found to be significant. That is, paths from emotional exhaustion at Time 1(2) to emotional exhaustion at Time 2(3), from cynicism at Time 1(2) to cynicism at Time 2(3) and from academic inefficacy at Time 1(2) to academic inefficacy at Time 2(3) were statistically significant. In addition, the results revealed that the cross-lagged coefficients from emotional exhaustion at Time 1(2) to cynicism at Time 2(3) and those from academic inefficacy at Time 1(2) to cynicism at Time 2(3) were statistically significant. All other cross-lagged coefficients were not significant (i.e., from emotional exhaustion to academic inefficacy, from cynicism to emotional exhaustion, from cynicism to academic inefficacy and from academic inefficacy to emotional exhaustion). These results have important implications for the prevention of academic burnout and for future research.

Locus of control and academic efficacy in the thoughts of life and death of young Quebec university students.

This study evaluated the role of control and efficacy expectations in the thoughts of life and death of 50 male and 50 female university students and investigated sex differences in this regard. It followed a correlational design and employed measures of tridimensional locus of control, expectations of academic efficacy, thoughts of life and death. A comparison of means revealed that male students did not differ from their female counterparts on any of the variables under study. Stepwise regression coefficients indicated that the two cognitive factors accounted more for thoughts of death than for thoughts of life; expectations of academic efficacy were the single variable that most explained variance. Regression equations by sex showed that thoughts of life were associated with internality and expectations of academic efficacy in females, and that thoughts of death were associated with expectations of academic inefficacy in males. The university counseling personnel should be especially sensitive to youths presenting with expectations of externality and of academic inefficacy. The latter variable seems to be particularly important, regardless of sex.