Academic burnout : the relationship between academic burnout, perfectionism, and inflated responsibility

Abstract

This study examined academic burnout amongst students and the relationship between academic burnout and inflated responsibility, perfectionism, gender, occupational status, student loans, as well as pressure at work in the personal life and at school. A sample of 173 students from Reykjavik University completed an online questionnaire which included the background variables, as well as three self-report measurement tools, Almost Perfect Scale-Revised, Responsibility Attitude Scale and, Burnout Assessment Tool, which measure perfectionism,inflated responsibility and burnout, respectively. Reliability for all measurement tools were examined using Cronbach’s alpha, with alpha coefficients ranging from 0.76 to 0.95. Results indicate no significant effect of gender or student loan status on academic burnout score.Adaptive perfectionism negatively correlated with academic burnout score and all four dimensions, while maladaptive perfectionism correlated with total score and three dimensions: exhaustion, cognitive- and mental impairment. Inflated responsibility correlated with total academic burnout score and all four dimensions. Pressure at work and occupational status did not correlate with academic burnout scores. Pressure at school correlated with academic burnout and all dimensions while pressure in personal life did not correlate with cognitive impairment.Furthermore, regression analyses revealed that pressure at school, adaptive perfectionism and inflated responsibility did have predictive power of academic burnout. Results indicate that students can experience burnout. The results regarding inflated responsibility show theimportance of further research in to the topic.Keywords: Academic burnout, perfectionism, adaptive perfectionism, maladaptiveperfectionism, inflated responsibility.