Predicting Medical Students’ Academic Burnout Based on Academic Self-Efficacy: The Mediating Role of Academic Grit

Academic burnout has significant negative consequences for students. Accordingly, identifying inhibiting factors is of particular importance. The purpose of this research was to investigate the mediating role of academic grit in the relationship between the academic self-efficacy and academic burnout in medical students.

The study was descriptive with a correlational design. The population consisted of all students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in academic years 2022-2023 among which 391 students were selected through the use of multistage sampling. The data collection instruments included Questionnaires of Midgley academic self-efficacy, Bresso et al.'s academic burnout and general grit of Duckworth and Quinn. The data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and Structural Equation Modeling.

The results revealed that academic self-efficacy directly predicts academic grit (p<0.01, ß=0.63) and the direct effect of academic self-efficacy on students' academic burnout is negative and significant. (p<0.01, β=0.31). Besides, academic self-efficacy could indirectly affect academic burnout through academic grit. (p<0.01, ß=0.29). This way, it can be inferred that academic grit plays a mediating role in the relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic burnout.

Strengthening students' academic self-efficacy can increase their academic stability and thus help to reduce their academic burnout. Therefore, it is suggested to pay attention to the improving of self-efficacy and academic grit in educational programs.