School burnout and engagement in the context of demands–resources model

BACKGROUND: A four-wave longitudinal study tested the demands-resources model in the school context. AIM: To examine the applicability of the demands-resources to the school context. METHOD: Data of 1,709 adolescents were gathered, once during the transition from comprehensive to post-comprehensive education, twice during post-comprehensive education, and once 2 years later. RESULTS: The hypotheses were supported, path analysis showing that study demands were related to school burnout a year later, while study resources were related to schoolwork engagement. Self-efficacy was positively related to engagement and negatively to burnout. School burnout predicted schoolwork engagement negatively 1 year later. Engagement was positively related to life satisfaction 2 years later, while burnout was related to depressive symptoms. Finally, burnout mediated the relationship between study demands and mental health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The demands-resources model can usefully be applied to the school context, including the associations between school-related burnout and engagement among adolescents. The model comprises two processes, the energy-depleting process and the motivational process.