From emotional exhaustion to cynicism in academic burnout among Korean high school students: Focusing on the mediation effects of hatred of academic work

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of academic hatred, referring to the hatred of academic work, on the developmental process of the core dimensions of academic burnout, namely, emotional exhaustion and cynicism. Data were collected from 1015 (57.3% female) senior high school students in South Korea. The results showed that emotional exhaustion, cynicism and academic hatred were stable across three waves. An autoregressive cross-lagged model showed that emotional exhaustion was predictive of future academic hatred, which in turn was associated with future cynicism. Significant mediation pathways were also identified, with academic hatred mediating the longitudinal link between emotional exhaustion and cynicism. This longitudinal study can strengthen the understanding of academic hatred within the developmental process of academic burnout. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.