School Burnout: Testing a Structural Equation Model Based on Percieved Social Support, Perfectionism and Stress Variables

Abstract

School burnout is described as the apathetic, ironic behavior and insufficiency of feeling from a student towards school and is associated not only with emotional and behavioral disorder but also with school absenteeism and school dropout. Determining the variables affecting school burnout is essential since it is related to emotional behavioral disorders concerning depression and stress. Additionally, it has a negative relationship with students’ psycho-social status and a positive relationship with students’ school absences and school dropout. In studies investigating school burnout, this variable has been seen as having high correlation with a range of variables. Especially social support, perfectionism, and stress were highlighted among those variables. The purpose of this study is to test the structural equation model [SEM] as it relates to the social support, perfectionism and stress that are being perceived by the university students to explain their burnout. The participants of the study are the total of 371 students studying at Ankara University, Faculty of Educational Sciences. Mean of these students’ age is 21,35 (SD=2,02). 265 of the participants (71,4%) are female and remaining 106 (28,6%) are male. Students’ mean of academic achievement (GPAs) is 2,77 (SD=0,46) out of 4,00. Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Scale (MBI-SS) (MTE-ÖF; Schaufeli, Martinez, Pinto, Salanova & Bakker, 2002), Percieved Social Support Scale-Revised (ASDÖ-R; Yıldırım, 1997, 2004), Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FÇBMÖ; Frost, Marten, Lahart & Rosenblate, 1990) and Student Life Stress Inventory-Revised (GÖYSE; Gadzella, 1991) are utilized for the collection of data. As a result of the path analysis, it is concluded that social support results in a decrease of exhaustion and increase in stress on a perfectionist person whereas rise in stress lead to exhaustion, however, exhaustion also brings cynicism.