Application of the demand-control-support model to academic burnout: Exploring protective factors for academic burnout

Objectives This study applied the demand-control-support model, which is a major model explaining job burnout, to the phenomenon of academic burnout of college students in order to explore the protection factors of academic burnout of college students. Methods After measuring academic exhaustion, academic demand, academic control, parental autonomy support, and professor autonomy support for 377 students enrolled in universities in the metropolitan area, a hierarchical regression analysis was conducted based on the theoretical model, the demand-control-support model. Results As a result, academic control reported a significant effect on reducing academic burnout while controlling the effect of academic demand in academic burnout. As a result of examining the effects of parental autonomy support and professor autonomy support in the next step, both parents and teachers reported significant negative effects, and when comparing relative sizes, professor autonomy support had a greater effect on reducing college students' academic burnout. Conclusions Based on these results, the significance and limitations of this study and suggestions for subsequent studies were also discussed.