Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and Academic Burnout in Students

Introduction: Academic Burnout and Self-Esteem

Academic burnout is a serious issue that affects a wide range of students each year (Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Luo, Wang, Zhang, Chen & Quan, 2016; Rahmati, 2015). However, as numerous researchers show, the development and acquisition of self-esteem by students can actually help to alleviate stress and increase academic performance (Arshad, Zaidi & Mahmood, 2015; Fernández González, González Hernández & Trianes Torres, 2015). Self-esteem is defined as confidence in oneself and in one's self-worth or value, and it is similar to the concept of self-efficacy, which is a belief in one's ability to succeed at certain tasks (Arshad et al., 2015; Rahmati, 2015). What researchers have shown is that the more self-efficacy or self-esteem a student possesses, the more likely that student is to succeed academically (Arshad et al., 2015; Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Rahmati, 2015).

The reason for this is that students who esteem themselves highly and have a sense of their capacity for knowledge acquisition tend to know what it takes to stay on top of their academic tasks and duties, and are therefore better able to manage their academic career. Those who are not so self-aware or self-knowledgeable tend to get in over their heads and thus experience academic burnout. They become easily stressed, overloaded, and unable to cope with the demands of college life. They find no strength within themselves to rise up and take ownership of the educative process. This in turn sometimes leads them to abandon the pursuit altogether, or else to continue through while always receiving low grades, resulting in a sub-par overall performance.

Gender and Social Support as Mediating Variables

While self-esteem is an important variable in understanding the effects of stress on academic performance, another important variable is gender (Arshad et al., 2015). Female students may not have as high a level of self-esteem as male students in college, but they do tend to achieve a high level of academic performance nonetheless (Arshad et al., 2015). One reason for this may be that female students have significant social support systems in place and maintain a generally optimistic outlook—two more variables that have been associated with keeping stress levels down so that academic focus can be maintained (Fernández González et al., 2015). Aside from these two variables, others have also been identified, such as having goals set for oneself, having the capacity to regulate effort and engage in deep processing, and having parents who are involved in one's life and can offer emotional support (Honicke & Broadbent, 2016). All of these factors have been found to be important in mediating stress and the ability to keep school burnout at bay.

Understanding Burnout: Causes and Contributing Factors

Burnout has been described as the effect of overwhelming stress in a student's life (Luo et al., 2016; Rahmati, 2015). The main mediating factors in alleviating stress that have been shown to be effective across numerous studies is the ability to have some sort of emotional support system in place—one that provides an outlet for stress and inputs of positive emotional reinforcement that can facilitate the maintenance of higher levels of self-esteem (Arshad et al., 2015; Honicke & Broadbent, 2016; Luo et al., 2016). Luo et al. (2016) have shown that burnout results, moreover, from a combination of cynicism about the value of school and academics in general, physical and mental exhaustion (i.e., the depletion of mental stamina), and a perception of overall decline in one's academic performance. These factors, coupled together, can lead to a student feeling burned out, and unless the student is emotionally and socially supported by peers or parents, the student is unlikely to re-engage with academics and sustain effort until success is achieved.

Conclusion: Preparing Students for Academic Success

Overall, the research overwhelmingly supports the idea that self-esteem and self-efficacy are the two most consistent variables in predicting a student's academic success over the long-term (Arshad et al., 2015; Luo et al., 2016; Rahmati, 2015). The more prepared a student is in terms of having a social and emotional sense of self-worth, the more likely that student is to succeed in academic performance. Factors such as parental support and the ability to engage in deep processing also play a role in the regulation of stress (Honicke & Broadbent, 2016) and can therefore be viewed as important skills for students to develop. Thus, if students wish to be prepared for the rigors and challenges of academic life, they should be directed towards developing self-esteem and self-efficacy, and they should ensure that social and emotional support systems are in place for when they are needed.

References

Arshad, M., Zaidi, S. M. I. H., & Mahmood, K. (2015). Self-esteem & academic performance among university students. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(1), 156–162.

Fernández González, L., González Hernández, A., & Trianes Torres, M. V. (2015). Relationships between academic stress, social support, optimism-pessimism and self-esteem in college students. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 13(1), 111–130.

Honicke, T., & Broadbent, J. (2016). The influence of academic self-efficacy on academic performance: A systematic review. Educational Research Review, 17, 63–84.

Luo, Y., Wang, Z., Zhang, H., Chen, A., & Quan, S. (2016). The effect of perfectionism on school burnout among adolescence: The mediator of self-esteem and coping style. Personality and Individual Differences, 88, 202–208.

Rahmati, Z. (2015). The study of academic burnout in students with high and low level of self-efficacy. Procedia—Social and Behavioral Sciences, 171, 49–55.