Psychology Research and Behavior Management

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Social Support and Academic Burnout Among

University Students: A Moderated Mediation
Model

Yuqiao Ye, Xiuyu Huang & Yang Liu

To cite this article: Yuqiao Ye, Xiuyu Huang & Yang Liu (2021) Social Support and Academic
Burnout Among University Students: A Moderated Mediation Model, Psychology Research and
Behavior Management, , 335-344, DOI: 10.2147/PRBM.S300797

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S300797

© 2021 Ye et al.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Social Support and Academic Burnout Among

University Students: A Moderated Mediation Model
This article was published in the following Dove Press journal:
Psychology Research and Behavior Management

Yuqiao Ye 1,2, * Purpose: An increasing number of studies have been carried out to investigate the relation­
Xiuyu Huang 2,3, * ship between social support and study motivation among university students, but underlying
Yang Liu 4, * mechanisms behind this pathway have not been fully verified. In the present study, we aimed
1
to test the effect of social support on academic burnout (decrease in study motivation);
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Behavior and
Cognitive Neuroscience, School of examine the mediating effect of life satisfaction on the association between social support
Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, and academic burnout; and explore whether this mediating effect varied across (moderated
Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; 2School mediation) students of different socioeconomic status (SES).
of Psychology, South China Normal
University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic Materials and Methods: Data for 503 students were collected in a Chinese university
of China; 3Center for Smart Health, through a composited survey regarding social support, life satisfaction, SES, and academic
School of Nursing, The Hong Kong
burnout. Data analysis and the investigation of combined effects in the model were carried
Polytechnic University, Kowloon City,
Hong Kong; 4Department of Physical out via conditional process modeling.
Education, Shaanxi Normal University, Results: Results indicated that social support was negatively associated with academic
Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
burnout. In addition, life satisfaction had a partial mediation effect on the relationship
*These authors contributed equally to between social support and academic burnout, and SES moderated this mediation effect.
this work Specifically, the mediation effect was found to be more significant among students in the
high SES group than those in the lower one.
Conclusion: This study is novel in that it establishes empirically how academic burnout is
associated with a typical society analytical variable (ie, social support) among students in
tertiary education. It also investigates an alternative scenario to explain the underlying
mechanism of social support on academic burnout against the most popular explaining
model. Implications of the study for effective elimination of the decrease in study motivation
across students with different SES are discussed.
Keywords: social support, life satisfaction, socioeconomic status, academic burnout,
mediation effect, moderated mediation effect

Introduction
Academic burnout was originally derived from the term “job burnout” in the
workplace.1 Although students are not workers as such, from the perspective of
Correspondence: Yang Liu psychology, bachelor studies comprise structured events, including course atten­
Department of Physical Education,
Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, People’s
dance, assignments and examinations, which can be regarded as “work”.2,3
Republic of China Students in a burnout state often feel exhausted and adopt a cynical, withdrawn
Email liuyang0330@snnu.edu.cn
motivation towards their studies.4 The syndrome of academic burnout is analo­
Yuqiao Ye gous to that of employees, which is associated with higher absence, higher
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Behavior and
Cognitive Neuroscience, School of percentage of dropout, and a decrease in academic performance.3 It is apparent
Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, that the academic burnout does harm a student’s career. Numerous research groups
Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Email yuqiaoye@outlook.com have shown a high prevalence of burnout in universities.1,5–8 They provided

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consistent evidence indicating that social support (envir­ teachers and schoolmates can provide useful suggestions on
onmental resources) is a crucial factor contributing to academic tasks so that students may relieve their study bur­
a decrease in the level of academic burnout. Social sup­ dens and adopt an optimistic attitude. Also, according to the
port is a feeling that one is being cared for, able to obtain Conservation of Resources Model (COR),21 social support is
assistance from others, and more importantly, is a conditional resource. It can offer mental assistance in
a member of a supportive network.9 Students with var­ handling anxiety, strain, or depression and subsequently
ious social supports can more easily seek help to address helps amend students’ self-respect, self-perception, and self-
the burnout issue. The above-mentioned studies1,5–8 efficacy.22 In general, adequate social support provides both
mainly focused on the direct relationship between social external and internal positive effects on a wide range of
support and academic burnout. They usually only consid­ aspects of life satisfaction among students.
ered social support as a significant protective barrier Life satisfaction not only simply inherits the social
directly against academic burnout without considering support effect, but also has an association with
the latent mechanism (eg, indirect effects) behind the a student’s study status. As shown in previous studies,
association.1,5,6 high life satisfaction is regarded as the reflection of posi­
In response to this research gap, the purpose of this study tive emotion towards different dimensions of life.23,24 The
was to investigate the possible mediating effect of life satis­ Broaden-and-Build theory of positive emotions (BBT)
faction and moderated effect of SES on the association suggests that an individual with positive emotions was
between social support and academic burnout using more likely to be open-minded and self-directed during
a moderated mediation model. Specifically, we tested if their academic life.25 Moreover, students with high life
social support was indirectly related to academic burnout satisfaction also have fewer improper behaviors and
through life satisfaction and if this mediation effect was lower study dropout rates according to cross-sectional
moderated by SES (wealthy vs poor). A deep comprehension experiments.26,27 These interesting phenomena all raise
of these effects not only offers students guidance with which the possibility that a high level of life satisfaction could
to manage study motivation themselves, but also enables not only increase the positive effects on study but reverse
teachers and parents to deliver targeted interventions to stu­ the negative ones. Thus, life satisfaction was regarded as
dents with different socioeconomic backgrounds. a determining factor in academic burnout.
The buffering-effect model theory proposed by Cohen
Life Satisfaction as a Mediator and Wills28 is one of the most popular models to explain
Although much research has been focused on the role of how social support influences strain. It suggests that social
social support on study motivation (eg, academic burnout), support would activate personal objectives and indirectly
little is known other than the direct relationship. Previous protect an individual from the negative effects of strain via
studies have tested various possible indirect links between these activated objectives (eg, life satisfaction). Academic
social support and burnout, such as co-rumination, organiza­ burnout, as a common consequence of high study strain,
tional identification, work-family conflict and degree of might have a similar pattern; that is, a personal objective
religiousness.10–14 However, most proposed pathways were may exist in the relationship between social support and
targeted to samples in the workplace, while students were academic burnout. To our knowledge, limited research
less catered for. Life satisfaction, as a psychological emotion, effort has been devoted to examining this indirect path
is critical to college student development and adaptation to among university students. By considering these points,
university life.15 It has been proved to be significantly asso­ we employed Cohen and Wills’ model and hypothesized
ciated with students’ perceptions of the quality of that life satisfaction mediated the relationship between
a university, the ability to self-learn, the sense of belonging social support and academic burnout.
to the university community, and study performance.16–19 We
believe that this psychological strength could act as a crucial Socioeconomic Status as a Mediator
transformed component of the effect of the received social Although a high level of social support might strengthen
support on academic burnout. life satisfaction and undermine academic burnout, the
In university life, sufficient support from multiple sources effects of social support may not be consistent across
through family members, teachers, and peers leads to various students with different characteristics. A better under­
productive effects on life assessment.20 For example, standing of the difference in the mediating process in

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Dovepress Ye et al

divergent groups has critical implications on effective

intervention design for academic burnout issues.
A previous study showed that the educational attainment
of a citizen in a wealthy country was dependent on his/her
life satisfaction.29 We assumed this conditional depen­
dence on SES of life satisfaction could be transformed
from a country level into a personal perspective.
Moreover, the effects of life satisfaction (internal subjec­
tive well-being) on perceived status varied among people
under different situations,30,31 while the effects of social
support (external objective) tended to be static.32 Thus, the
Figure 1 Moderated mediation model predicting academic burnout.
present study focused on examining if the second stage of Abbreviation: SES, socioeconomic status.
the mediation process (eg, life satisfaction–academic burn­
out association) would be moderated by SES among uni­
satisfaction, would be stronger in students lived in
versity students.
high SES.
According to the Need Hierarchy Theory,33 indivi­
duals’ purchases change from material necessities to emo­
tional expression with an increase in SES. As a distinct Materials and Methods
type of negative emotion, a lack of self-efficacy in study, Participants
such as academic burnout, is likely to primarily present The data used in the study were collected from students in
among students of high SES when they are dissatisfied a university located in China during the middle of the
with their current life than in those of low SES who semester (the end of April). We planned to collect data
struggle in their basic living. Furthermore, studies also from 600 samples by referring the sample size (n=320) of
suggest that students with a high SES have more and an analogous study36 and the subject selection approach
flexible options in their career and are able to commit to described below. As most statisticians made a consensus
interesting fields where the extent of satisfaction is the that the minimum sample size to get any kind of mean­
priority of study motivation.34 However, students in low- ingful result is 100 (better not exceed 1000),37 we assumed
income families were inculcated with the idea of “It is the that the collected sample size of our study should be
knowledge that upgrades one’s life’ being the major moti­ adequate. Due to the absence of 13 students who withdrew
vation of their study. Thus, their interests and satisfaction from the study, a total of 587 surveys were eventually
may not have such a strong effect on their study motiva­ collected, of which 502 were valid, without missing-
tion compared to high-SES students. Based on the theore­ value items. All the subjects voluntarily participated in
tical evidence, life satisfaction effects on academic the study. One hundred and eleven (22.11%) of the sub­
burnout were expected be more potent among high SES jects were males, and 391 (77.89%) were females. The
students than the low ones. gender imbalance of the collected data was due to two
reasons: (1) the proportion of males to females in the
The Present Study university is approximately 3:7; (2) the missing-value
Our study aimed to offer a differentiated picture of the items were slightly more common in the surveys (removed
relationship between social support and academic burnout from the analysis) filled by males, which further decreased
among university students by testing a simple mediation the sex ratio in the data distribution. We finally selected
and a moderated mediation.35 According to the above two groups of subjects based on their socioeconomic status
literature review, we hypothesized that (i) the association measured by three questions (see Section 2.2.4), ie, the top
between social support and academic burnout would be and bottom 27%38 out of 503 participants. These two
mediated by life satisfaction, and (ii) that the second stage groups were respectively labeled as “high SES students”
of the mediated path would be moderated by SES (Figure and “low SES students”, with 136 students in each group.
1). Specifically, we hypothesized that the negative indirect Thus, only 272 subjects were included in the data analysis.
effect of social support on academic burnout, through life Their mean age was 21.87 years (SD = 1.19).

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Measure assessment makes me feel disgusted”, “I fall asleep during

All items for measures were administrated in Chinese. Only lectures” and “I feel the obtained knowledge from courses
Chinese and English scales were used in the study. The are useless”. Items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale
English scales were translated into Chinese by academic pro­ ranging from 1 (completely inconsistent) to 5 (fully consis­
fessors in psychology, and the translated versions have been tent). The Cronbach’s alpha of this measure was 0.87.
verified and published in peer-reviewed journals in China. All
scale scores were computed by calculating the mean of the Socioeconomic Status
items after reverse-coding the necessary ones. For all final We assessed SES by asking participants to indicate their
scores, higher values indicate higher levels of measures. agreement to three statements: (a) “I have enough money
to buy things I want”; (b) “I don”t need to worry too much
Social Support about paying my bills’; and (c) “I don”t think I will have
Social support was measured with the 10-item Social to worry about money too much in the future’, on a 7-point
Support Rating Scale (SSRS) developed by Xiao.39 The Likert scale (where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly
SSRS is the most commonly used and reliable tool for agree). These three statements were developed by
social support assessment in China with successfully Griskevicius et al to evaluate SES in their studies.49,50
application in many previous studies.40–42 It measured They were used to measure the extent to which people
three dimensions of social support including subjective feel resource-deprived in the present and foresee the future
support (four items), objective support (three items) and regarding their socioeconomic status. Although there are
support-seeking behavior (three items). An example of the several measures for the SES evaluation, including
items was: “How many close relationships can back you income, education and occupation, undergraduate students
up when you are facing difficulties?”. For each dimension, share a similar identity in terms of these measures. Under
a higher scale value indicated a higher level of received this circumstance, perceived resource availability (plenti­
support. The overall Cronbach’s alpha was 0.76. fulness vs scarcity) is an alternative significant indicator of
SES.49,50 The trustworthiness of these three statements on
Life Satisfaction the assessment of SES is evident by the high internal
Students’ life satisfaction was assessed using the reliability in both Griskevicius et al.‘s two studies, which
Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS) designed by Diener, were cited by other researchers over 1100 times.49,50 In
Emmons, Larsen, Griffin.43 It measured global cognitive their studies, the high SES and low SES groups were well-
judgments towards an individual’s life satisfaction, with discriminated, with means above and below ±1 standard
five 7-point Likert items (where 1 = strongly disagree and deviations (SDs) from the mean of SES. In the present
7 = strongly agree). The items reflected the overall satis­ study, as an additional check, the group division strategy
faction of the university students with their quality of life. designed by Kelley (for a slightly greater number of parti­
The internal reliabilities of SWLS were 0.78 to 0.82, as cipants included) was applied to identify the two groups of
published in different reports in the Chinese context.44–46 students with distinct SES.38 According to the mean score
Examples of the items included “I am satisfied with my of the three Griskevicius et al items, the top 27% (136
life” and “The conditions of my life are excellent”. The students) of the 503 subjects were defined as the “high
Cronbach’s alpha for SLS was 0.78. SES” group, and the bottom 27% (136 students) were
defined as the “low SES” group. The reported internal
reliability of our study was 0.87.
Academic Burnout
The Academic Burnout Scale (ABS) invented by Rong,
Lixian and Lanhua was used to measure academic burnout Control Variables
among university students.47 It is considered a reliable Researchers have shown that family location has an asso­
assessment tool for academic burnout in the Chinese ciation with SES.51 To address this bias, family location
context.48 The scale consisted of three separate components was included as a control variable in the study. It was
of academic burnout: study depression (8 items), misconduct measured using the item: “Were your family in a rural
(6 items) and a low sense of achievement (6 items), for (rural = 0) or urban (urban = 1) area?”. We also controlled
a total of 20 items. For example, the items include “Unit gender (male= 0, female = 1) in the analysis.

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Dovepress Ye et al

Procedure Result
The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee Bivariate Analyses (Descriptive Statistics
of the South China Normal University prior to the com­
and Correlation)
mencement and followed the Declaration of Helsinki for
Table 1 shows the mean (M) (for ordinal or continuous
research involving human subjects. The data were collected
variables) or frequency (F) (for categorical variables), stan­
from a simple random sample of undergraduate students at
dard deviation (SD), and intercorrelation for all measures in
the university in person within one day. We first explained
our study. Social support was found to be positively asso­
the study as well as the confidentiality measures and reim­
ciated with life satisfaction (r = 0.28, p < 0.001) but nega­
bursement for participation (10 Chinese Yuan paid to each
tively correlated with academic burnout (r = −0.27, p <
participant after the data collection). After the informed
0.001). Life satisfaction was found to be significantly corre­
consent (upon disclosure of the experiment information
lated with academic burnout (r = −0.35, p < 0.001). These
and voluntary nature of participation) was obtained from
above results indicate that the independent variable, depen­
the students, they were requested to fill in a short survey
dent variables, and mediated variable in our proposed model
that contained multiple items including gender, age and
grade. To be included in the study, participants needed to were all significantly correlated with each other.
be an official current student and between 18 and 25 years of
age. He/she was finally asked to complete a composited Mediation Analysis
survey containing all the measures analyzed in the study Next, we tested the mediation effect of life satisfaction on the
after the eligibility confirmation. Both two mentioned sur­ association between social support and academic burnout.
veys were completed with pen and paper. According to Preacher and Hayes,52 the mediation effect
would only be tested when the independent and dependent
Statistical Analysis variables were significantly related. This prerequisite was
We carried out all statistical analyses of the present satisfied, as shown by the bivariate analysis in the previous
study using IBM SPSS version 21 software. The subsection.
descriptive statistics of our samples and the inter-factor We used the ‘Model 4ʹ in the PROCESS macro devel­
correlations for the selected variables were employed oped by Hayes in the IBM SPSS software to test our
before the hypothesis testing, which showed the statis­ mediation hypothesis.35 The macro generated bootstrapped
tical characteristics of the participants. A conditional (5000 bootstraps were used in our study) confidence inter­
process analysis with a bootstrapped approach vals which did not contain zero, which indicated
(PROCESS)35 was then applied to test the mediating a significant mediation effect.52 All continuous variables
(ie hypothesis (i)) and moderated mediating (ie hypoth­ were normalized through the z-score approach before the
esis (ii)) effects. test. SES, family location, and gender were dummy coded

Table 1 Means (M)/Frequencies (F), Standard Deviations (SD), and Intercorrelations of Study Variables
Variable M/F SD 1 2 3 4 5

1. Social support 38.47 5.10 /

2. Life satisfaction 18.96 5.27 0.28*** /

3. Academic burnout 55.16 10.63 −0.27*** −0.35*** /

4. SES Wealth:136 / −0.01 0.04 −0.01 /

Poor: 136

5. Family location Rural: 180 / −0.04 −0.05 0.06 0.02 /

Urban: 92

6. Gender Male: 34 / −0.13 0.03 −0.05 0.13* 0.04

Female:238
Notes: *p <0.05; ***p<0.001.

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Figure 2 Mediation model of social support to life satisfaction to academic burnout: (A) Conceptual diagram; (B) Statistical diagram.
Notes: **p<0.01. ***p<0.001.

to 0 and 1. Control variables including family location and confidence interval (without zero) for the significance
gender were assigned as covariates in the test. test. An illustration of the model is presented in Figure 3.
The mediation model (Figure 2) with both predictors Results showed that approximately 18% of the var­
and covariates explained 16% of the variance of academic iance of academic burnout was explained by social sup­
burnout (R2 ¼ 0.16, p < 0.001). The result from bias- port, life satisfaction, SES, the interaction between life
corrected bootstrapping indicated a significant mediation satisfaction and SES, and covariates (R2 ¼ 0.18, p <
effect (β= −0.08, SE = 0.03, CI [−0.14, 0.04]). Thus, life 0.001). Indirect effects of social support on academic
satisfaction was found to mediate the relationship between burnout were significant for both the high SES group (β=
social support and academic burnout. −0.13, SE = 0.04, CI = −0.22 to −0.05) and the low SES
group (β= −0.05, SE = 0.02, CI = −0.10 to −0.01).
Moderated Mediation Analysis However, the negative indirect effect at high SES was
We used ‘Model 14ʹ in the PROCESS macro to examine significantly stronger than that at low SES, as no zero
the moderated mediation effect, ie, part (ii) of our hypoth­ value was returned in the bootstrapping index of moder­
esis. The macro also generated a 5000-bootstrap ated mediation (β= −0.08, SE = 0.04, CI [−0.17, −0.01]).

Figure 3 Socioeconomic status (SES) moderated the mediation model of social support to life satisfaction to academic
burnout: (A) Conceptual diagram; (B) Statistical diagram.
Notes: *p <0.05. **p<0.01. ***p<0.001.
Abbreviation: SES, socioeconomic status.

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Dovepress Ye et al

This result supported the proposed moderated mediation burnout, but also deliver its effect directly on academic
effect. burnout.28,54 This substantiates the theoretical framework
that social support affects academic burnout both intern­
Discussion ally and externally. As stated above, social support is
The aim of the present study was to investigate the media­ likely to prevent or eliminate academic burnout by activat­
tion effect of life satisfaction on the social support–aca­ ing an individual’s internal perception (eg, life satisfac­
demic burnout association and the function of SES on the tion). Also, it may operate as external assistance (eg,
mediation effect. The results suggest a significant social parent care, peer advice, and supervisor feedback) for
support-academic burnout association and a significant direct academic burnout alleviation.
mediated effect of life satisfaction upon this association. Another interesting finding was that the indirect effect
Additionally, this indirect pathway varied across students of social support on academic burnout via life satisfaction
with different SES. Specifically, the indirect link was more increased as the SES improved. The reason behind the
potent among high-SES students. Our findings offer expected changes across SES may be the different roles
a novel and crucial understanding of how social support of life attitude on academic burnout in students of different
is associated with academic burnout among university SES. As it is expected that the basic external demands of
students and the difference in the mediating process students of high SES, including physiological and safety
between high and low SES groups. We believe the current needs in their life, can be readily fulfilled, the extent of
study can expand the literature by offering empirical evi­ their life satisfaction is mainly determined by other higher
dence for the mechanism by which social support affects levels of internal requirements, such as social needs,
academic burnout. esteem, and self-actualization.33 This internally oriented
Consistent with previous studies,1,5,6 we found social life satisfaction may be more likely to have a greater effect
support dissimilarity in academic burnout among univer­ on academic burnout, which is also an internal status of
sity students. As expected, the results indicated that life exhaustion. Conversely, as stated by COR,33 the extent of
satisfaction is a key underlying psychological assessment/ life satisfaction among students who live in adversity is
emotion, contributing to the explanation of why an largely based on low-level external material demands, so
increase in social support is associated with less academic their life assessment may not be reflected in the internal
burnout. Students receiving more support were more likely academic burnout as much as those living in a wealthy
to be satisfied with their life, and in turn may have less family. These findings provide initial support for the
academic burnout. In line with the buffer-effect model unique role played by perceived resource availability as
proposed by Cohen and Wills,28 our findings suggest that a reliable indicator of SES in the observed differential in
optimism in life assessment (personal objective) may be academic burnout between the two SES groups. As men­
activated by the increment of social support, and this tioned in the Introduction, several research groups reached
activated optimism of life may, in return, act as a shield a consensus on a positive relationship between social sup­
to prevent an individual from falling into academic port and life satisfaction across multiple groups of
burnout.53 On the other hand, for those encountering people.30,31 Thus, our hypothesis on moderated effect
stressful or exhaustive conditions, sufficient social support were only tested at the second stage (life satisfaction-
is likely to create a positive perception of life assessment, academic burnout) of the indirect effect instead of the
regardless of the physical resource reality, which will help first stage (social support-life satisfaction). Our result
them pull themselves out of the academic burnout state. may explain why the indirect link has various effects on
Moreover, as shown in Section (b) of Figure 2, the direct academic burnout among students with different SES: for
path of social support-academic burnout remained signifi­ the two groups of students, there are different roles of life
cant after the involvement of the significant mediating satisfaction in academic burnout, rather than different roles
effect of life satisfaction, which means the direct and of social support in life satisfaction.
indirect path from social support both contributed to the Many students have difficulties in adapting to univer­
variance of academic burnout. This interesting finding sity life,55 where a large number of assigned study tasks
offers a different scenario against the buffer-effect may increase their burnout during semesters. Our finding
model.28 Social support may not only convey its effects may offer important implications for addressing the
indirectly, via other factors associated with academic increased prevalence of burnout. First, our study provides

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empirical evidence of the social support–life satisfaction– remains a priority for the design of intervention programs
academic burnout partial mediation model. This suggests for academic burnout.59 The findings of the present study
that academic intervention could be targeted to various highlight that life satisfaction plays a significant mediat­
supports to increase life satisfaction. For example, parents ing role in the association between social support and
could provide more instrumental and emotional care. academic burnout. SES was also found to have
Teachers can deliver views on the importance of social a significant moderating effect on this indirect path. It is
support from peers, family, and lecturers to the students hoped that the initial findings of the study will encourage
and offer guidance on how to obtain that support from the more studies targeting an investigation of student aca­
university community. Universities can establish diverse demic burnout (study motivation), thereby yielding
and accessible facilities for both academic and mental a clear and comprehensive understanding of the under­
assistance. Second, our finding shows that SES acts as lying mechanisms between social support and academic
a significant moderator of social support on academic burnout for different student characteristics and
burnout. This suggest that interventions for academic backgrounds.
burnout could be designed to cater for students with dif­
ferent SES levels. Programs to address academic burnout Funding
among high-SES students could be mainly concentrated on This research was supported by the Fundamental Research
emotional factors, including study interests and a sense of Funds for the Central Universities (Program No.
achievement. Alternatively, programs for students living in GK202007035).
adverse conditions could emphasize financial needs and
elimination of the negative effect of social comparison due Disclosure
to prejudice and bias. The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.
Consistent with other studies,46,56 it is important to be
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