Rôle du burnout scolaire dans les idées de suicide des adolescents

Background and study aim

Recent previous studies have highlighted the existence of burnout among high-school students. Burnout among high-school students has been described as a continuum between academic stress and severe burnout. Moreover, as for adults, burnout in school context is a three-dimensional concept that includes: exhausting concerning school demands, cynical attitudes towards school and sense of inadequacy as a student (Salmela-Aro et al., 2009). Previous research has shown that burnout can engender depression (Salmela-Aro et al., 2009), and that, depression in turn could lead to suicide ideas among adolescents (Garlow et al., 2008). Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the determinisms of burnout among French high-school students and to evaluate the mediator effect of depression between burnout and suicidal ideations.

Method

Two hundred and fifty-six high-school students from 11th and 12th grades participated in this study. Among the participants, 135 were boys and 117 were girls, mean age was 16.9 years (SD = 0.88). The participants completed questionnaires about depression, suicidal ideations, burnout, academic stress, perceived pressure and perfectionism.

Results

Regression analyzes were performed in order to determine the predictor variables of school burnout. The results indicates that burnout was predicted by academic stress, perceived pressure provided by parents and provided by peers; perfectionism however appears as a protective factor. In a second step mediation analyses using multiple regressions were performed. As expected, depression was a mediator between burnout and suicidal ideations. Since burnout was a significant predictor of depression and of suicide ideas, when depression and burnout are both associated, depression is the principal predictor (β = 0.64; t = 11, P < 0.0001) and burnout is no longer a significant predictor (β = –0.09; t = –1.6; P = 0.11). The Sobel post-hoc test confirmed these results (z = 8.4, P < 0.0001).

Conclusion

Therefore it seems important to take into account academic stress and burnout for prevention of suicidality in adolescents. Psychotherapy interventions, focused on problem solving or improving feelings of self-efficacy, may be interesting to explore.