The Association of Stress and Burnout in Students: Looking at the Role of Coping

This study examined the relationship between perceived stress and burnout among university students, as well as subgroup differences and the moderating role of coping strategies. Guided by the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) and Study Demands-Resources (SD-R) frameworks, perceived stress was conceptualized as a study demand and coping as a personal resource. A total of 6,610 students from Erasmus University Rotterdam completed an online survey including the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS), and Brief-COPE. Linear regressions, t-tests, ANOVAs, and hierarchical regressions were conducted. Perceived stress strongly predicted overall burnout (R2 = .34) and all burnout dimensions, with the strongest association for emotional exhaustion (R2 = .30), followed by cynicism (R2 = .18) and reduced academic efficacy (R2 = .17). Female students reported higher stress (d = .30) and higher burnout (d = .08). Students surveyed during the COVID-19 pandemic showed higher levels of both (d = .23). Bachelor students reported higher stress than master students (d = .06), whereas master students reported higher burnout (d = .09). Stress and burnout also differed significantly across faculties, with economic, law, social and behavioural science, and history, culture and communication students reporting the highest levels, and medical students the lowest. Coping styles explained small but significant additional variance in burnout (R2 = .001). Problem-focused coping was associated with lower burnout ( = -.19), while emotion-focused ( = .05) and avoidant-focused coping ( = .15) were associated with higher burnout. Only avoidant-focused coping significantly moderated the stress-burnout relationship, slightly weakening the association. These findings highlight the central role of perceived stress in student burnout and the need for interventions supporting vulnerable groups and promoting adaptive coping.