Adolescents’ School Burnout: A Comparative Study between Italy and Switzerland

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze and compare students’ school burnout levels in Switzerlandand Italy. Previous research has confirmed that female and older students in particular are highlyexposed to burnout risk. Nevertheless, few studies have observed this phenomenon through across-national comparison. Data on burnout were collected from a sample of 840 adolescents (Italianstudents = 497; Swiss students = 343) (Mage= 14.98; SD = 1.06; Female = 50%). Burnout wasmeasured using the School Burnout Inventory, and cross-cultural measurement invariance wastested. The results showed that this burnout measure was equivalent between the Italian andSwiss samples. A multivariate analysis of variance was next conducted to investigate the effectsof age, gender, and nationality. Results partially confirmed our hypotheses, showing the effect ofage but not of gender in explaining burnout differences among students, and between and within-group variance. In particular, the burnout risk was found to be higher in late adolescence (age16 to 18,Mexhaution= 2.73; Mcynicism= 2.99; MInadequacy= 3.14) than in mid-adolescence (age 13 to 15Mexhaution= 2.95;Mcynicism= 3.43; MInadequacy= 3.54). Furthermore, Italian adolescents were moreexhausted and cynical (Mexhaution= 2.99; Mcynicism= 3.26) than their Swiss peers (Mexhaution= 2.52;Mcynicism= 2.93) when controlling for age and gender. Findings suggest further investigation of therole played by educational and cultural values may be warranted