ANALYSIS OF THE MEDIATING ROLE OF RESILIENCE IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL SUPPORT AND BURNOUT IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

This research aimed to assess the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between social support and academic burnout. To do so, a cross-sectional study was conducted with undergraduate students enrolled at a public university in Paraná, Brazil, who were participants in the GraduaUEL project - Analysis of Health and Lifestyle Habits of Undergraduate Students at the State University of Londrina, interviewed in the year 2019. The dependent variable of this study was academic exhaustion, measured through the Copenhagen Inventory Burnout questionnaire (CBI-S). The independent variable was social support, measured using the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS), and the mediating effect of resilience was assessed using the CD-RISC-1 scale. Both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to obtain the model with the best fit using Mplus software, with a 95% confidence interval (CI95%). Total social support significantly and positively influenced resilience, while resilience had a significantly negative effect on burnout. It was observed that the direct effect of social support on burnout and the indirect effect of social support on burnout through resilience were significant, with resilience mediating this relationship by approximately 54.9%. In conclusion, social support and resilience have an impact on academic burnout; thus, reducing university students' exhaustion can be achieved by enhancing both social support and resilience among them.