Occupational stress and cognitive appraisal profiles as predictors of students’ burnout

Objective: Analyze if different patterns of occupational stress experienced by students (lower versus higher) and different cognitive appraisal profiles assumed by students (positive evaluation of academic activity versus negative evaluation of academic activity) affect their experience of burnout over time. Background: The interactive and transactional perspective of adaptation to stress was adopted to analyze how university students evaluate their activity and related academic stress, and how they feel in terms of burnout. Method: Longitudinal study design, with three moments of data collection, with a sample of 175 psychology students, from a Portuguese university. The investigation protocol included the Stress Questionnaire for Students, the Primary and Secondary Cognitive Appraisal Scale, and the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Scale. Results: The results showed that students who experienced higher levels of stress and a negative evaluation of their academic activity also reported higher levels of burnout when compared to students who experienced lower levels of stress and positive evaluation of academic activity. Moreover, a pattern of high stress in M1 increases in 443% the probability to experience moderate to high burnout in M2. A profile of negative evaluation of the academic activity in M1 increases in 594% the probability to experience high burnout in M2. Students exposed to high levels of burnout at M2 are over nine times more likely to experience moderate levels of burnout at M3, and over 300 times more likely to experience high levels of burnout at M3. Conclusion: Students who experience higher academic stress and those who evaluate their academic activity more negatively have a higher tendency to experience burnout. Although, the experience of burnout in a specific data point is the main predictor of experiencing burnout in a later moment, highlighting the chronic effects of this syndrome on human wellbeing. Application: This study provides specific indications of how much stress and cognitive appraisal can affect burnout, alerting also for the chronic nature of burnout feelings, which must be considered in safety and occupational health interventions.