Exploring the comorbid network of academic burnout and academic procrastination and its relations to social-emotional competence among Chinese 12th grade students: a perspective of psychological resource depletion and replenishment

Academic burnout (AB) and academic procrastination (AP) are common among high school students and negatively affect their academic performance. However, as significant psychological phenomena related to students’ academic success, the complex interaction between AB and AP, along with their relationship with social-emotional competence (SEC), has not been thoroughly investigated. Based on the ego depletion theory, this study aims to explore the co-occurrence of AB and AP among Chinese high school students and how they relate to SEC. This study gathered data from 1,827 12th-grade students in China and employed network analysis methods to construct an AB-AP comorbidity network and a network of SEC with the AB-AP comorbidity. The aim was to explore how AB interacts with AP and to identify the key nodes and pathways that connect to SEC. The results show that “Physical and Mental Exhaustion” is a core factor in AB-AP comorbidity and acts as a key bridge between AB and AP, along with “Fear of Failure”. These factors continue to serve as bridges in the SEC and AB-AP comorbidity network, where “Responsible Decision-Making” is identified as the most essential bridge factor. They negatively link SEC to comorbidity through “Fear of Failure—Responsible Decision-Making” and “Physical and Mental Exhaustion—Self-Relationship Competence”, indicating potential intervention pathways. This study highlights the comorbidity characteristics of AB-AP among high school students and examines the relationship between SEC as a resource supplement and the comorbidity, providing new theoretical and methodological insights into researching academic psychological issues in high school students. It also offers valuable recommendations for mental health interventions based on social-emotional learning.