Burnout and Engagement in University Students: Personal Resources, Stress, University Satisfaction and Personality
Date
2018
Authors
Melios-Traver, Thomas
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Thesis
Citation
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
Studying at university can be an extremely challenging experience for students. Students can become exhausted and cynical toward their studies which is often described as being burnt out. Burnout can lead to stress, drop-out, anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. Burnout is the opposite to engagement which refers to how vigorous, dedicated and absorbed a student is with their studies. Increasing engagement has shown to result in lower levels of exhaustion thus suggesting that understanding engagement is as important as considering burnout. This study examines the predictors of burnout and engagement in a general university student population (n = 164). Personal resources, personality traits, stress and university satisfaction were all found to correlate with burnout and engagement. This study also explored group differences between students according to their field of study. Results showed that students from health degrees reported lower rates of exhaustion, cynicism, stress, neuroticism, psychological flexibility and optimism, and higher rates of positive reframing coping than students who were not in health degrees. These results are discussed along with recommendations for further research.
Keywords: Burnout, Engagement, University Students, Conservation of Resources, Personal Resources, Personality, Stress, University Satisfaction
School/Discipline
School of Psychology
Dissertation Note
Thesis (B.PsychSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2018
Provenance
This electronic version is made publicly available by the University of Adelaide in accordance with its open access policy for student theses.
Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. This thesis may incorporate third party material which has been used by the author pursuant to Fair Dealing exceptions. If you are the author of this thesis and do not wish it to be made publicly available, or you are the owner of any included third party copyright material you wish to be removed from this electronic version, please complete the take down form located at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/legals
Description
This item is only available electronically.