Prevalence of Burnout Syndrome and Fear of COVID-19 among Adolescent University Students

• Published in: Children (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 2; p. 243
• Main Authors: Aguayo-Estremera, Raimundo, Cañadas, Gustavo R, Albendín-García, Luis, Ortega-Campos, Elena, Ariza, Tania, Monsalve-Reyes, Carolina S, De la Fuente-Solana, Emilia Inmaculada
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 30-01-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Burn out (Psychology); Burnout; burnout syndrome; College students; Colleges & universities; COVID-19; Education; Epidemics; Health aspects; Learning; Medical research; Older people; Pandemics; Pediatrics; personality; prevalence; Psychological aspects; Risk factors; Statistics; Teaching; Teenagers; University students; Spain; COVID-19; university students; prevalence; personality; burnout syndrome
• ISSN: 2227-9067; 2227-9067
• DOI: 10.3390/children10020243

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of burnout syndrome in adolescents entering university studies, to detect differences in burnout levels, personality factors and fear of coronavirus in a pandemic context due to COVID-19. A cross-sectional predictive study was performed with a sample that comprised 134 individuals in their first year of a Psychology degree at Spanish universities. The Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale were applied. The prevalence of burnout is estimated according to three methods: Maslach and Jackson's severity classification, Golembiewski's phase model and Maslach et al.'s profile model. The estimates show significant differences. The results indicated that between 9 and 21% of students were at risk of developing burnout. On the other hand, students who reported having suffered psychological consequences of the pandemic showed greater emotional exhaustion, neuroticism and fear of COVID-19, and a lower level of personal accomplishment than those who did not suffer such consequences. Neuroticism was the only significant predictor for all burnout dimensions, and fear of COVID-19 did not contribute to any of them.