Understanding the influence of high novelty-seeking on academic burnout: Moderating effect of physical activity

A study of the psychological mechanisms of job burnout: implications of person-job fit and person-organization fit

Job burnout and work pressure are pivotal concerns in human resource management and workplace mental health, profoundly impacting organizational sustainability and individual well-being. Grounded in the person-environment fit theory, this empirical study quantitatively investigates the psychological mechanisms of person-job fit and person-organization fit in job burnout, highlighting the mediating role of work pressure. To test our hypotheses, we investigated 477 employees from 63 IT enterprises around China's Pearl River Delta region. The findings reveal that person-job fit is negatively associated with job burnout and work pressure, while work pressure positively influences job burnout, partially mediating the relationship between person-job fit and job burnout. Similarly, person-organization fit negatively affects job burnout and work pressure. However, its direct influence on job burnout is insignificant, indicating that work pressure fully mediates the relationship between person-organization fit and job burnout. These findings are consistent with the person-environment fit theory, enhancing our understanding of how individuals fit with their jobs and how organizations affect job burnout through work pressure. This study offers valuable insights for organizations seeking to mitigate burnout and promote employee well-being.

Factors affecting medical students’ academic burnout: a moderation analysis

Background. Burnout syndrome may threaten medical students’ professional life through negative effects on their academic work and personal life. Therefore, it is very important to identify the risk and protective factors of burnout syndrome in this group of subjects. The present study aimed to determine the association of socio-demographic characteristics, current substance/medication abuse, and personality dimensions with academic burnout among medical students, and examine physical activity as a potential moderator of the personality dimensions-academic burnout relationship. Materials and Methods. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 400 medical students from the four courses of basic sciences, physiopathology, stagers, and internship (100 people at each course) in Zahedan, Iran, in 2018, were selected by stratified sampling method and evaluated using the socio-demographic information form, Baecke physical activity questionnaire, Temperament and character inventory, and Breso’s academic burnout questionnaire. Finally, descriptive statistical methods, the Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, and hierarchical linear regression were implemented for data analysis. Results. The participants included 156 men and 244 women. The overall frequencies for current substance/medication abuse, exhaustion, cynicism, inefficacy, and academic burnout were reported to be 27.5, 10.3, 12.3, 6.5, and 25.8 percent, respectively. The study results showed that physical activity, persistence, and cooperativeness were negative, and the years in medical school, current substance/medication abuse, and novelty seeking were positively associated with academic burnout. Also, the regression analysis results revealed the moderating effect of physical activity in the novelty-seeking-academic burnout link. Conclusions. These findings are an important contribution to the current literature on academic burnout as they can provide a meaningful guide to integrating treatment protocols designed to reduce both frequency and severity of this syndrome among medical students. However, the etiology of academic burnout among this highly sensitive group should be further investigated in depth.

The relationship between psychiatric nurses' perceived organizational support and job burnout: Mediating role of psychological capital

Background

Psychiatric nurses need to keep close contact with patients suffering from mental illness. Because of the special nature of their profession, there is an increasing incidence of job burnout among psychiatric nurses.

Aim

This study examined the relationship between psychiatric nurses' perceived organizational support, job burnout, and psychological capital. It also investigated the mediating role of psychological capital in the relationship between their perceived organizational support and job burnout.

Methods

A total of 916 psychiatric nurses were recruited from 6 grade-III mental facilities in Shandong Province using the stratified sampling approach. Their data were collected and examined using a general demographic data questionnaire, The Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Perceived Organizational Support Scale, and the Psychological Capital Questionnaire.

Results

The total score of job burnout was 53.71 ± 16.37. Specifically, 73.69% of the nurses had moderate to severe emotional exhaustion, 76.75% had moderate to severe job burnout pertaining to depersonalization, and 98.80% had moderate to severe job burnout pertaining to personal accomplishment. Spearman's correlation analysis showed that both psychological capital (r = -0.35, p < 0.01) and perceived organizational support (r = -0.31, p < 0.01) were adversely related to job burnout. Additionally, psychological capital somewhat mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support and job burnout. Its mediating impact accounted for 33.20% of the overall effect.

Conclusion

This study's participants had a moderate to severe level of job burnout. However, organizational support and psychological capital can be crucial in alleviating this problem among psychiatric nurses. Therefore, nursing managers and medical institutions should undertake timely and positive interventions to improve psychiatric nurses' mental health and prevent job burnout. While exploring the impact of organizational support and psychological capital on job burnout, future studies should consider other effective influencing factors, and the relationship between the different factors should be explored in depth. This would provide a basis for developing a job burnout prevention mechanism.

Structural impairment and conflict load as vulnerability factors for burnout - A cross-sectional study from the German working population

Introduction

Individual vulnerability and resilience factors are increasingly studied in burnout research. This is especially true for clinical variables that translate directly into intervention programs from a psychodynamic perspective. For example, few studies have examined the relationship between structural impairment and the individual spectrum of motivational conflicts according to the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis system (OPD) in relation to burnout. To substantiate previous findings, we hypothesized that structural impairment as well as motivational conflicts are related to burnout, but that structural impairment explained additional variance and mediated a possible relationship between conflicts and burnout.

Method

The present cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of the German working population (N = 545). Questionnaires were used to measure structural impairment (OPD-SQS), the conflict-modes along with the category K0 (OPD-CQ), as well as burnout (BOSS-I/-II).

Results

Structural impairment, a number of conflict modes, and burnout were significantly associated. Moreover, structural impairment explained additional variance in burnout. The requirements for the conflict-specific mediation models were given for 9 of the 12 OPD conflict modes. In these models the impact of the conflict modes on burnout was mediated by structural impairment.

Discussion

The current study broadens the comprehension of the relations between structural impairment, the conflict modes and burnout. In addition it higlights the role of structural impairment in predicting burnout risk and possible prevention approaches.

The influence of different physical exercise amounts on learning burnout in adolescents: The mediating effect of self-efficacy

Objective

To explore the effect of physical exercise on learning burnout in adolescents, and to reveal the mediating effect of self-efficacy between different physical exercise amounts and learning burnout.

Methods

A total of 610 adolescents from 5 primary and middle schools in Chongqing, China were investigated with the Physical Exercise Rating Scale (PARS-3), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), and the Learning Burnout Scale (LBS). The SPSS21.0 and AMOS21.0 statistical software were used to process and analyze the data.

Results

(1) The physical exercise amount in boys was significantly higher than that in girls, but there was no significant gender difference in self-efficacy and learning burnout. Meanwhile, the academic alienation and low sense of achievement of primary school students were significantly lower than that of junior high school students, and there was no significant difference in the physical exercise amount and self-efficacy. (2) The physical exercise amount in adolescents was positively correlated with self-efficacy (r = 0.41), negatively correlated with learning burnout (r = -0.46), and self-efficacy was negatively correlated with learning burnout (r = -0.45). (3) The physical exercise amount could directly and negatively predict the learning burnout of adolescents (β = -0.40), and self-efficacy played a partial mediating effect between the amount of physical exercise and learning burnout (ES = -0.19). (4) Self-efficacy had no significant mediating effect between low exercise amount and learning burnout, but had a significant partial mediating effect between moderate (ES = -0.15) and high exercise amount (ES = -0.22) and learning burnout, and the partial mediating effect between high exercise amount and learning burnout was the highest.

Conclusion

Physical exercise was an effective way to prevent or reduce learning burnout in adolescents. It can not only directly affect learning burnout, but also indirectly affect learning burnout through the mediating effect of self-efficacy. It should be pointed out that maintaining a sufficient amount of physical exercise is crucial to improving self-efficacy and reducing learning burnout.

How physical exercise impacts academic burnout in college students: The mediating effects of self-efficacy and resilience

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Academic burnout is harmful to college students, their institutions of learning, and society at large. While research has shown that physical exercise may be associated with reduced academic burnout, the underlying mechanisms require further exploration. This study explored the relationship between physical exercise and academic burnout in a sample of college students, with a focus on the serial mediating roles of self-efficacy and resilience.

METHODS

This study adopted a cross-sectional survey approach among a sample of undergraduate college students in China. We recruited 1,270 participants in the second half of the 2021-2022 academic year (476 men and 794 women), all of whom completed questionnaires containing the Physical Activity Rating Scale, Academic Burnout Scale for College Students, 10-item General Self-Efficacy Scale, and 25-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. We then subjected the collected data to a series of statistical analyses.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

Physical exercise was significantly and negatively associated with academic burnout and its three subfactors (i.e., emotional exhaustion, improper behavior, and low personal achievement). Participants in the high physical exercise group showed lower levels of academic burnout than those in the moderate and low physical exercise groups. Finally, our serial mediation model showed that physical exercise had a significant direct effect on academic burnout (β = -0.1104, 95% CI = [-0.1421, -0.0791]) in addition to significant indirect effects on academic burnout via self-efficacy and resilience (β = -0.0802, 95% CI = [-0.1088, -0.0527]); the more exercise participation, the lower the academic burnout among college students. These findings suggest that physical exercise is an important interventional target when aiming to reduce academic burnout.

Job satisfaction and burnout of psychiatric nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in China—the moderation of family support

Purpose

The study aimed at investigating the state of psychiatric nurses’ job satisfaction, job burnout, and the moderating effect of family support between them in China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials and methods

Online self-report questionnaires were distributed and 212 psychiatric nurses participated in the research. Pearson correlation analysis, multiple stepwise regression analysis, and simple slope test were used for data analysis.

Results

The results showed that the status of their job satisfaction (53.67 ± 10.72) and burnout (33.62 ± 13.84) did not reach a satisfactory level and job satisfaction had a significant negative impact on job burnout. Meanwhile, family support played a negative moderating role between the two variables.

Conclusion

Psychiatric nurses suffered from job burnout in China during the COVID-19. Family support could have a counterproductive effect when the nurses were experiencing decreasing job satisfaction. It gave suggestions to the medical institutions and the government to improve the psychological well-being of the psychiatric nurses and even of all the medical staff.

The relations between mental well-being and burnout in medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic: A network analysis

Background

Although poor mental well-being (MW) has been documented among individuals experiencing burnout during the coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, little is known about the complex interrelationship between different components of MW and burnout. This study investigates this relationship among medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic through network analysis.

Methods

A total of 420 medical staff were recruited for this study. Components of MW were measured by the 14-item Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS), and components of burnout were measured by a 15-item Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) Questionnaire. Network structure was constructed via network analysis. Bridge variables were identified via the bridge centrality index.

Results

The edges across two communities (i.e., MW community and burnout community) are almost negative, such as edge MW2 ("Useful") - B14 ("Worthwhile") and edge MW1 ("Optimistic about future") - B13 ("Happy"). The edges within each community are nearly positive. In the MW community, components MW1 ("Optimistic about future") and MW6 ("Dealing with problems") have the lowest bridge centrality. And in the community of burnout, components B13 ("Happy") and B14 ("Worthwhile") have the lowest bridge expected influence.

Conclusion

We present the first study to apply the network approach to model the potential pathways between distinct components of MW and burnout. Our findings suggest that promoting optimistic attitudes and problem-solving skills may help reduce burnout among medical staff during the pandemic.

Associations Between Maladaptive Perfectionism and Life Satisfaction Among Chinese Undergraduate Medical Students: The Mediating Role of Academic Burnout and the Moderating Role of Self-Esteem

Empirical research has shown that maladaptive perfectionism may lead to lower life satisfaction. However, the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and life satisfaction among medical students and the mechanism underlying this relationship still need to be further explored. The present study used a large sample of undergraduate medical students to examine the associations between maladaptive perfectionism and life satisfaction and to explore the mechanism underlying the associations. Specifically, the present study tried to probe the mediating role of academic burnout and the moderating role of self-esteem in the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and life satisfaction in medical students. We invited 1628 undergraduate medical students from two medical universities in Northeastern China to participate in the survey. Among the students recruited, 1377 medical students (response rate: 84.6%) completed questionnaires including the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) maladaptive perfectionism subscales, the Chinese College Student Academic Burnout Inventory (CCSABI), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and demographic information. Results show that maladaptive perfectionism was significantly negatively related to life satisfaction among medical students and academic burnout played a significant mediating role (β = -0.10, BCa 95%CI: -0.12, -0.07) in this relationship. Moderated mediation analyses reveal that the mediating effect of maladaptive perfectionism on life satisfaction via academic burnout was moderated by self-esteem. Maladaptive perfectionism exerted a stronger effect on life satisfaction via the mediating role of academic burnout for medical students with high self-esteem [β = -0.026, SE = 0.009, 95%CI = (-0.047, -0.011)] than for medical students with low self-esteem [β = -0.019, SE = 0.009, 95%CI = (-0.038, -0.001)]. Medical institutions can implement effective interventions to decrease medical students' maladaptive perfectionism levels and academic burnout levels, and increase their self-esteem levels in order to enhance their life satisfaction.

Burnout among Iranian medical students: Prevalence and its relationship to personality dimensions and physical activity

Several studies have shown the association between personality traits and academic burnout. But the main goal of the present study was to find out an experimental answer to the following questions: Is there a simple relationship between personality dimensions and academic burnout? Can physical activity affect this relationship?. In this cross-sectional correlational study, 417 medical students were selected from three major cities of Iran through stratified multistage sampling and assessed by demographic information form, Baecke Physical Activity Questionnaire, Temperament and Character Inventory, and Breso's Academic Burnout Questionnaire. Bivariate Pearson correlations and hierarchical linear regression were used to examine the relationships between academic burnout, personality traits, and physical activity. In this study, 400 medical students (39% male and 61% female) filled the questionnaires correctly. The total prevalence of academic burnout was 25.5% (n=102), with heterogeneous levels. Regression analysis indicated that in a multivariate model, being male (β=0.08, p=0.013), higher years of medical school (β=0.18, p˂0.001), and lower scores in novelty seeking (β=-0.53, p=0.006), cooperativeness (β=-0.55, p=0.010), and physical activity (β=-1.22, p˂0.001) could be attributed to higher scores of academic burnout. Furthermore, physical activity had a moderating role in "novelty seeking-academic burnout" (β=-0.47, p=0.044) and "cooperativeness-academic burnout" (β=-0.89, p=0.001) relationships (ΔR2=0.02, p˂0.001). The results suggested that male gender, higher years of medical school, and lower levels of novelty seeking, cooperativeness, and physical activity are associated with higher levels of academic burnout among Iranian medical students. Therefore, paying attention to male gender and individual difference factors, as well as planning for physical education classes during the medicine courses (especially in the last years of medical school), seems essential. However, more extensive investigations need to be carried out in this field through longitudinal studies.