Academic Self-Efficacy and Academic Burnout Among College Students: The Chain-Mediating Roles of Self-Control and Learning Engagement

Academic burnout remains a widespread concern in higher education because it impairs students’ learning progress and psychological well-being. Using cross-sectional questionnaire data from 1431 full-time undergraduates, this study examined the association between academic self-efficacy and academic burnout and tested whether self-control and learning engagement statistically mediated this relationship in sequence. The measurement model showed acceptable fit (χ2/df = 2.84, CFI = 0.958, TLI = 0.947, RMSEA = 0.036, SRMR = 0.031). Regression-based path analysis indicated that academic self-efficacy was positively associated with self-control (β = 0.48, p < 0.001) and learning engagement (β = 0.33, p < 0.001), and negatively associated with academic burnout (β = −0.24, p < 0.001). Self-control was positively related to learning engagement (β = 0.31, p < 0.001) and negatively related to academic burnout (β = −0.20, p < 0.001), while learning engagement showed the strongest direct association with academic burnout (β = −0.50, p < 0.001). Bootstrap analyses showed significant indirect associations through self-control (Estimate = −0.096, 95% CI [−0.135, −0.062]), learning engagement (Estimate = −0.165, 95% CI [−0.218, −0.117]), and the serial pathway through self-control and learning engagement (Estimate = −0.074, 95% CI [−0.104, −0.049]). The total indirect association accounted for 58.26% of the total association. These findings suggest that academic self-efficacy is linked to lower burnout partly through stronger self-regulatory capacity and deeper learning involvement. Given the cross-sectional and self-report design, the results should be interpreted as evidence of theoretically informed associations rather than causal effects.