The impact of negative life events on learning burnout among high school students: a moderated mediation model comparing left-behind and non-left-behind students

Negative life events constitute a major risk factor for learning burnout among high school students. Drawing on cognitive appraisal theory and resiliency model, this study examined life satisfaction as a mediating mechanism and psychological resilience as a moderating factor, while comparing these pathways between left-behind and non–left-behind students. A total of 1,347 high school students completed questionnaire measures assessing negative life events, life satisfaction, psychological resilience, and learning burnout. Correlation analyses, mediation analyses, and moderated mediation models were tested using SPSS 21.0 and the PROCESS macro (Version 3.5). Negative life events were positively associated with learning burnout in both left-behind (β = 0.320, p < .001) and non–left-behind students (β = 0.364, p < .001). Life satisfaction significantly mediated this association in both groups. Among left-behind students, negative life events predicted lower life satisfaction (β = −0.293, p < .001), which in turn was associated with higher learning burnout (β = −0.548, p < .001), yielding a significant indirect effect (β = 0.160, 95% CI [0.09, 0.24]) that accounted for 50.00% of the total effect. Among non–left-behind students, the indirect effect via life satisfaction was also significant but smaller (β = 0.118, 95% CI [0.08, 0.16]), accounting for 32.42% of the total effect, whereas the direct effect of negative life events on learning burnout was more pronounced (β = 0.246, p < .001). Psychological resilience moderated the association between life satisfaction and learning burnout in both groups (left-behind: β = −0.115, 95% CI [−0.17, −0.06]; non–left-behind: β = −0.094, 95% CI [−0.13, −0.06]), such that the inverse association between life satisfaction and learning burnout was stronger among students with higher psychological resilience. Notably, this moderating effect was more pronounced among left-behind adolescents than among their non–left-behind peers. The findings demonstrate that life satisfaction serves as a key mediating mechanism linking negative life events to learning burnout, and that psychological resilience moderates the pathway. Importantly, these mechanisms operate differently across caregiving contexts: left-behind students rely more heavily on indirect pathways through life satisfaction and benefit more from resilience-related buffering, whereas non–left-behind students are more strongly affected by the direct impact of negative life events. These results provide mechanistic evidence to inform subgroup-sensitive interventions aimed at enhancing life satisfaction and strengthening psychological resilience among high school students.