Personality, Pressure, and Perceived Social Support: An Examination of How Personality and Social Support Influence Academic Burnout

Abstract

Academic burnout is a prolonged exposure to academic stress experienced by students. This is a prevalent issue among university students, leading to increased feelings of exhaustion and cynicism towards their studies as well as reduced academic efficacy. Furthermore, academic burnout is associated with a variety of negative outcomes, including poor academic performance, reduced psychological well-being, and negative mood. Certain personality traits, including conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, have been linked to higher levels of academic burnout. Additionally, social support has been found to be negatively associated with academic burnout. This suggests that social support could play an important moderating role in the relationship between some aspects of personality and academic burnout. However, limited research has been done in this area. The current study aimed to address this gap by examining the relationships between personality, social support, and academic burnout, with a specific focus on the moderating role that social support plays in the relationship between extraversion and neuroticism and academic burnout. A total of 172 undergraduate students from Cape Breton University (ages 18-41, M = 20.7) completed an online survey assessing the Big Five Personality traits (IPIP-NEO- 120 item), academic burnout (MBI-SS), and interpersonal social support (ISEL). Results show that three personality traits can be predictive of academic burnout: conscientiousness (-), openness to experience (-), and neuroticism (+). Social support was not found to moderate the relationship between extraversion/neuroticism and academic burnout. Findings suggest that while social support is important, academic burnout may be more strongly influenced by individual differences, and interventions may benefit from a more individualized approach.