Academic burnout and its association with psychological factors among medical students in Guangxi, China

BACKGROUND: Academic burnout is prevalent among medical students and is directly related to psychological distress. However, little is known about academic burnout among medical students in Guangxi and its associations with psychological health. This study aimed to determine the associations between psychological factors and academic burnout among medical students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1067 medical students at Guangxi Medical University from November 2023 to April 2024, with a stratified sampling method. Data were collected using web-based online software. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were used to examine the association between psychological factors and academic burnout. RESULTS: Most of the students were female (55.3%), with a mean age of 20.6 years (SD = 1.4), and the mean overall academic burnout (OAB) was 57.3 (SD = 9.3). More than half (53.1%) reported a learning duration of 8 hours or more per day, and 66.2% reported sufficient reward promotion. Perceived stress was positively associated with OAB (β = 0.203, P < 0.001), whereas self-efficacy and self-esteem were negatively associated with OAB (β = -0.598, P < 0.001 for self-efficacy; β = -0.192, P < 0.001 for self-esteem), after adjusting for all predictors. CONCLUSION: Academic burnout was influenced by psychological factors such as perceived stress, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Thus, consideration of these factors could be useful to identify medical students who are susceptible to burnout and poor mental health and design appropriate interventions or university strategies of learning motivation and educational environment to reduce and prevent burnout in this population.