Professional Documents
Culture Documents
a
School of Education, Zhaoqing University, PR China
b
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, PR China
Keywords: Family environment appears to have impact on academic burnout of middle school students, but the mechanism
Family conflict of family environment on academic burnout is still unclear. This paper examined if self-control moderates the
Family intimacy impact of family conflict and intimacy on academic burnout among middle-school students. A total of 1,081 1st-
Academic burnout and 2nd-year middle school students (7th and 8th graders) from Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Shaanxi provinces
Self-control
were surveyed using four scales. Results showed that self-control moderated the impact of family conflicts and
Middle school students
intimacy on academic burnout in middle schoolers. Follow-up simple slope analyses indicated the negative
association between family intimacy and academic burnout was greater under the condition of higher levels of
self-control. And family conflict was positively related to academic burnout for participants with high and
average levels of self-control, but not for participants with low levels of self-control. We confirmed that middle
school students with low self-control are more likely to experience academic burnout when exposed to family
environments that lack intimacy, whereas higher levels of self-control protected the students from academic
burnout while living in unfavourable family environments (more conflicts, less intimacy). This study filled the
gap in literature between the family environment and academic burnout.
1. Introduction and anxiety (Bask & Salmela-Aro, 2013; May, Seibert, Sanchez-
Gonzalez, & Fincham, 2018; Wang, Chow, Hofkens, & Salmela-Aro,
Starting in middle school, students begin to learn increasingly 2015).
complex courses and face significantly more challenging academic re-
quirements than those at the elementary school level. Naturally, their 1.1. Family environment and academic burnout
academic pressures increase, but excessive levels of academic stress can
exhaust the students physically and mentally (Shankar & Park, 2016; The family environment plays an irreplaceable role in the formation
Zhang & Zheng, 2017). There is a negative correlation between aca- of children's speech and personalities (Grazyna, Wolanin, &
demic stress and academic performance (Elias, Ping, & Abdullah, 2011; Stemplewska, 2004; Leto, Petrenko, & Slobodskaya, 2019). It lays the
Zajacova, Lynch, & Espenshade, 2005). Research indicates that higher foundation for the children's negative emotion regulation development
academic pressure is positively associated with the severity of academic (Morris, Silk, Steinberg, Myers, & Robinson, 2007). The family en-
burnout (Luo, Wang, Zhang, & Chen, 2016). Academic burnout is a vironment also affects academic burnout of school-aged children, which
state of emotional, behavioural, and cognitive exhaustion that students has been confirmed in several studies (Luo, Deng, & Zhang, 2020; Shin,
experience when coping with academic stress. It is a passive coping Lee, Kim, & Lee, 2012). For example, it was shown that parenting styles
mechanism that the students adopt when they feel that their abilities in the family environment are important factors affecting students'
are inadequate to meet the academic requirements (Salmela-Aro, Kiuru, academic burnout (Luo et al., 2020). Positive parenting styles can help
Leskinen, & Nurmi, 2009; Tuominen-Soini & Salmela-Aro, 2014; students become more confident and thus experience less academic
Vasalampi, Salmela-Aro, & Nurmi, 2009). Previous studies have con- burnout, while negative parenting styles (such as punishments and re-
firmed that in addition to affecting the students' cognitive performance jection) are more likely to cause the students to become burned out
(May, Bauer, & Fincham, 2015), academic burnout can lead to physical (Shin et al., 2012). Other studies have shown that higher levels of
and mental issues such as headaches, physical weakness, depression, parents' expectations were associated with higher levels of academic
⁎
Corresponding author at: School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, No. 122 Ninghai Road, Gulou District, Nanjing 210097, PR China.
E-mail address: hzhang9055@126.com (H. Zhang).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105482
Received 11 April 2020; Received in revised form 11 September 2020; Accepted 11 September 2020
Available online 23 September 2020
0190-7409/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y. Luo, et al. Children and Youth Services Review 119 (2020) 105482
burnout. A study by Sorkkila, Aunola, and Ryba (2017) on young ath- 1.3. Theoretical basis and hypotheses
letes demonstrated that parents' expectations of their children's success
(e.g., schoolwork, sports) could alleviate burnout. Research also in- This study investigated the effects of the external family environ-
dicates coercion in families offers an evidenced-based way of oper- ment, as well as the internal self-control on academic burnout. How
ationalizing the construct of family conflict, it points to possible prag- these factors affect academic burnout had been explained in some
matic intervention targets (the ultimate goal of studies of family theoretical models. For instance, the diathesis-stress model suggests
conflict) that have been shown to significantly reduce family conflict. that some individuals are more likely to be adversely impacted by ne-
And shows family conflict is an environmental variable that is highly gative factors in the environment due to their personal phenotypes in
involved in life course psychopathologies and avoidance behaviors behavioural, temperamental, physiological, or endogenous aspects, or
(Dishion & Snyder, 2016). Additionally, it was found that students from their genetic susceptibilities (Monroe & Simons, 1991). However, in this
families of lower economic statuses experienced more severe academic theory, only the impact of adverse external environment on susceptible
burnout than students from families of better economic statuses (Luo individuals was discussed; the impact of the positive environment on an
et al., 2016). Lastly, Bahrassa, Syed, Su, and Lee (2011) examined fa- individual was not included.
mily environmental factors for poor academic performance among Derived from the above model, Manuck and McCaffery (2014)
Asian American undergraduates, and the findings support the need to proposed the vantage sensitivity model to illustrate the differences and
consider family variables in academic performance during the transi- diversity in the benefits received by individuals from positive en-
tion from high school to college. vironments. Using this model, Sweitzer et al. (2013) demonstrated that
In order to fully understand the influence of family environment on in the interaction between diathesis and environment, the diathesis
academic burnout among middle school students, we selected a positive variable moderates the individual’s benefits received in a positive en-
factor in the family environment (i.e., intimacy) and a negative factor vironment. The diathesis-stress model elucidates that an individual's
(i.e., conflict) to investigate their impacts on students’ burnout. Here, own diathesis influences the impact of the external environment on an
family conflict refers to the degree of aggression, anger, and tension individual’s negative behaviours but the vantage sensitivity model
between family members, and family intimacy refers to the emotional proposes that some individuals appear more sensitive in response to
connect between family members. exposure to positive environments (Bakermans-Kranenburg & van
IJzendoorn, 2015; Pluess & Belsky, 2013).
In summary, although it is commonly recognized that academic
1.2. The moderated role of self-control burnout is affected by external family environment and internal self-
control, how the family environment acts through individual self-con-
It has been confirmed that in addition to external factors such as trol to affect academic burnout, and how these factors are related to
family influences, the differences in the internal factors (such as self- each other still requires further investigation. Based on the diathesis-
control) among individual students are also critical modulators of stress model and vantage sensitivity model, this study explored how
academic burnout (Schmidt, Neubach, & Heuer, 2007). Self-control both the family environment and self-control affect an individual’s
represents the ability of an individual to independently adjust his/her academic burnout. Family conflicts and intimacy of the family en-
behaviours to match his/her personal values and social expectations vironment were used as environmental variables, while self-control was
(Muraven & Baumeister, 2000). used as the individual's diathesis variable.
Self-control helps an individual suppress personal impulses that are Therefore, we suggest the following three hypotheses:
not accepted or expected by society, and adjust the person’s thoughts,
emotions, and behaviours better to exhibit socially acceptable beha- • H1: Family conflicts positively predict academic burnout, while fa-
viours (Ronen, Rahav, & Moldawsky, 2007). It was found that children's mily intimacy negatively predicts academic burnout
self-control is significantly negatively associated with problem beha- • H2: Self-control has a moderating effect between family conflicts
viours (Hay, 2001). An experimental study of the modulating effects of and academic burnout
self-control on academic burnout showed that the trait of self-control • H3: Self-control has a moderating effect between family intimacy
could negatively predict academic burnout. and academic burnout.
Furthermore, insufficient self-control will increase the positive
predictive effect of academic burnout on academic performance. Ego The significance of this study is to provide supplemental and more
depletion describes a theory about a person’s limited ability to solve detailed evidence, as well as a theoretical basis to support and augment
problems using cognitive thinking, or exhibit self-control, when energy further studies in related fields. Another point worth noting is that in
needed for complex tasks has been used up. As ego depletion describes previous studies on the impact of negative family environment on
that humans possess limited resources to regulate how they process academic burnout, non-negative environmental factors were considered
complicated information and regulate emotions. When this energy be- as positive environmental variables, yet in reality, non-negative factors
comes drained, it causes ego depletion and impairs the ability to per- do not automatically equate to positive factors. Hence, in this study, not
form tasks that require self-control. It was noted that individuals with only was the negative environment such as family conflict considered,
higher levels of ego depletion, experience more severe academic but positive environment such as family intimacy was also taken into
burnout and display worse academic performance (Seibert, May, account when examining the role of self-control in affecting academic
Fitzgerald, & Fincham, 2016). burnout under the two environments among middle school students,
The cultivation of self-control can effectively enhance students' which is an innovative aspect of this research.
abilities to control their minds and behaviours, improving their re-
sistance to academic burnout. Students with strong self-control abilities 2. Methods
can more effectively manage their time in learning, complete academic
tasks on time, and show better abilities to preclude the negative impacts 2.1. Participants
of leisure activities and emotional interference on their academic
learning (Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004). These abilities enable A total of 1,102 1st and 2nd year middle school students (7th and
students to invest the focus of their psychological resources into the 8th graders) in Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Shaanxi provinces were ran-
academic area, so that they are more interested in learning and less domly selected for the study. Teachers obtained informed consent from
likely to experience academic burnout. Therefore, increasing self-con- parents; however, students were free to withdraw from this study. In
trol levels can effectively reduce academic burnout. total, 1,102 students completed the questionnaires and 1,081 valid
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Y. Luo, et al. Children and Youth Services Review 119 (2020) 105482
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Y. Luo, et al. Children and Youth Services Review 119 (2020) 105482
Table 2
Main and interactive effects of family conflict and self-control on academic burnout (n = 1, 081).
Academic burnout
b SE 95%CI β ΔR2 ΔF
** ***
Note: Sex was coded 0 for girls and 1 for boys. b = unstandardized coefficients. β = standardized coefficients, SE = standard error. p < .01, p < .001.
Fig. 1. Simple slope of family conflict on academic burnout at different levels of Fig. 2. Simple slope of family intimacy on academic burnout at different levels
self-control. of self-control.
4.1. Family environment quality and academic burnout members are important indicators for family cohesion (Olson &
Craddock, 1980). It has been consistently shown in multiple studies that
First, our study suggests that the total academic burnout score of family members from families with extreme statuses of cohesion and
middle school students have a significantly positive correlation with flexibility, especially families that have extremely poor cohesion and
family conflict levels, and a significantly negative correlation with fa- lack consistent rules, are more inclined to suffer from physical and
mily intimacy levels. The findings provide supporting evidence of the mental illnesses and children of these families tend to have more pro-
importance of family environment quality for the personal growth of blem behaviours (Kobak, Zajac, Herres, & Krauthamer Ewing, 2015;
youth (Lucas-Thompson, Lunkenheimer, & Dumitrache, 2017; Steeger, Shek, 1998).
Cook, & Connell, 2017). A large volume of research has indicated that the family environ-
In the family circumplex model, the three central dimensions of the ment has a critical impact on many aspects of adaptation and devel-
family and marital systems were summarized as family cohesion, flex- opment of an individual, such as behavioural problems, school adap-
ibility, and communication. Affective relationships among family tation, and subjective well-being (Cummings, Cheung, & Davies, 2013;
Table 3
Main and interactive effects of family intimacy and self-control on academic burnout (n = 1, 081).
Academic burnout
b SE 95%CI β ΔR2 ΔF
** ***
Note: Sex was coded 0 for girls and 1 for boys. b = unstandardized coefficients. β = standardized coefficients, SE = standard error. p < .01, p < .001.
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Y. Luo, et al. Children and Youth Services Review 119 (2020) 105482
Raya, Pino, & Herruzo, 2011). As a type of negative response that can from family environments with high intimacy levels, and experience the
affect an individual’s physical and mental health, academic burnout least problems with academic burnout. The observation is also incon-
must also be affected by the family environment. To elucidate, students sistent with the vantage sensitivity theory. However, students with low
living in a warm and affective environment can recognize more support self-control experience the most academic burnout issues when they are
and understanding, thus forming a more positive attitude towards exposed to the family environments that lack intimacy. This result
learning and reducing the feeling of academic burnout. Conversely, supports the diathesis-stress model, in which individuals with low self-
individuals who grow up in a more conflictual family environment control are more likely to be affected by adverse environments and
experience more attacks and frustrations that leave them feeling more exhibit more negative behaviour (Belsky & Pluess, 2009; Cummings, El-
stressed and helpless, further inducing the negative feeling of academic Sheikh, Kouros, & Keller, 2007).
burnout (Shin et al., 2012)
4.4. Limitations and suggestions
4.2. Self-control and academic burnout
Some limitations of the present study warrant consideration. First,
Furthermore, consistent with findings reported by Seibert et al.
in this study, the variables were derived from self-reports. And the data
(2016), we also found that academic burnout was negatively associated
source is basically the subjects' self-feelings, which has a great re-
with self-control. Therefore, when faced with academic challenges,
lationship with the research tools and the subjects' serious answers,
students with higher levels of self-control are able to control their
which is easy to affect the reliability of the study. In the future, modern
thinking, emotions, and behaviours in order to better resist temptations
technology can be used to collect the physiological data of the subjects,
or impulses, and focus on learning, thus achieving better results. Their
and further explore the influence of the external factor of family en-
motivations for success are stronger, and they have fewer problems
vironment and individual physiological quality on individual academic
with academic burnout.
burnout, so as to guide students to prevent academic burnout.
Unlike the students who can exercise self-control, students with
Moreover, although the internal consistency on two subcales (i.e.,
lower levels of self-control tend to have a weaker ability to control their
healthy behaviour & work ethic) of the Self-control Scales is acceptable
own words and actions and are less focused. They are more likely to be
but relatively low. Future studies is needed to replicate our findings by
attracted by outside distractions that reduce their learning efficiency,
using other measurements. Furthermore, we designed this cross-sec-
leading to a lack of motivation for achievement. These individuals may
tional study to examine the interactive effects of family environment
have a wrong perception of their own abilities, which further exacer-
and self-control on the academic burnout among middle school stu-
bates their academic burnout, and even develop study-weariness. This
dents. However, since cross-sectional studies often lack systematic
shows that we can enhance students’ self-control through specific
continuity, it is difficult to determine the causal relationship of the
training to reduce the problem of academic burnout and promote
psychological development of an individual or to reveal the trajectory
progress in their academic learning.
of the individual’s problem developing. Therefore, future research
should adopt longitudinal research to more clearly discover the causal
4.3. Moderating effect analysis
relationship between family environment and individual characteristics
in the formation of academic burnout, providing basis for intervention
More importantly, the results confirmed the moderating role of self-
of academic burnout.
control in the relationship between the family environment (conflict
and intimacy) and academic burnout among middle school students.
Such a role was manifested as the lack of a significant correlation be- 5. Conclusion
tween family conflict and academic burnout among students with low
levels of self-control. In other words, students with low self-control tend This study demonstrated that high levels of self-control could ef-
to have more academic burnout problems regardless of what levels of fectively reduce or alleviate the students’ academic burnout, indirectly
family conflict (high or low) they experienced. indicating that the negative family environment does not necessarily
Corresponding to the vantage sensitivity theory, Pluess and Belsky cause serious issues of academic burnout in children. Therefore, effec-
(2013) proposed the concept of ‘vantage resistance’, which refers to the tively resolving family conflicts among family members and creating a
tendency of individuals with certain characteristics that render them warm and harmonious home atmosphere is very conducive to solving
unable to benefit from positive influences. The results of our study are the problem of academic burnout. If it is difficult to solve the problems
consistent with this concept. For students with medium or high levels of of the family environment in a short period of time, we can try to im-
self-control, conflicts in family environments was significantly posi- prove the self-control levels of the students, especially those middle
tively correlated with academic burnout; comparatively, the impact of school students with low self-control levels, through targeted training
family conflict on the academic burnout for students with high levels of and cultivating, and help them to ease or reduce their academic
self-control displayed a greater rate of change in the simple slope test, burnout.
suggesting that for students with high levels of self-control, family
conflict has the most predictive effect on academic burnout. Students Declaration of Competing Interest
with high levels of self-control have the least amount of academic
burnout if they are growing up in families with the least conflicts.
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
Furthermore, for this group of students, even if they grow up in family
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
environments with more conflicts, they are still less likely to develop
ence the work reported in this paper.
academic burnout than those students with medium-to-low levels of
self-control, which is consistent with the hypothesis proposed in the
vantage sensitivity model (Pluess & Boniwell, 2015). Acknowledgements
This study also found the moderating role of self-control in the as-
sociation between family intimacy and academic burnout among This study was supported by Key Project of Education Science
middle school students, that is, family intimacy levels have a negative Planning in Guizhou Province (2018A022) awarded to Yun Luo, the
correlation to academic burnout for students with high, average and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, and the Humanity and
low levels of self-control. This evidence supports the notion that middle Social Science Foundation of Ministry of Education, China
school students with high self-control receive the maximum benefits (20YJC190028) awarded to Hui Zhang.
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Y. Luo, et al. Children and Youth Services Review 119 (2020) 105482