Burnout among high school students is linked to their telomere length and relatedness with peers

School burnout is a serious concern, as it impairs students’ health and academic success. According to the Conservation of Resources Theory, burnout results from the depletion of personal coping resources and can be counteracted by supportive social relationships. However, it is not yet clear how students’ relatedness with their peers is linked to their burnout. Next to students’ self-reported fatigue, biomarkers such as telomere length (TL), which presents an indicator of aging, complement stress research. To identify school-related factors that may prevent students from experiencing burnout and to link TL to students’ self-reported burnout, the current study investigated how relatedness with peers as well as TL at the beginning of the school year explained students’ burnout at the end of the school year. The sample included 78 students (Mage = 13.7 ± 0.7 years; 48% girls). Results of multilevel analysis in Mplus indicate that, over the school year, students with higher TL and those who experienced relatedness with their peers reported lower levels of burnout. Moreover, students who felt related to their peers exhibited a longer TL. The study implies that students’ relatedness with their peers may be a promising setscrew to prevent students’ burnout and support their physical health. This is one of the first studies to link TL with school-related variables such as burnout and relatedness to peers in a non-clinical student sample, providing a baseline for interventions and future interdisciplinary studies in the field of education and stress.

学业倦怠是一项亟待重视的严峻问题，其会损害学生的身心健康与学业成就。根据资源保存理论（Conservation of Resources Theory），倦怠源于个体应对资源的耗竭，而支持性的社会关系可对此起到缓解作用。然而目前尚不清楚学生与同伴的情感联结与学业倦怠之间存在何种关联。除学生自我报告的疲劳程度外，端粒长度（telomere length, TL）这类作为衰老标志物的生物标志物，也可作为压力研究的补充指标。为识别可预防学生学业倦怠的学校相关因素，并建立TL与学生自我报告学业倦怠之间的关联，本研究探讨了学年伊始的同伴情感联结与TL水平，如何解释学年末的学生学业倦怠情况。本研究的样本共包含78名学生（平均年龄M=13.7±0.7岁；女生占比48%）。采用Mplus进行的多水平分析结果显示，在整个学年中，端粒长度更长以及与同伴情感联结更强的学生，其报告的学业倦怠程度更低。此外，与同伴情感联结更强的学生，其端粒长度也更长。本研究表明，学生与同伴的情感联结或可成为预防学生学业倦怠、维护其身心健康的有效调控手段。本研究是首批在非临床学生样本中，将TL与学业倦怠、同伴情感联结等学校相关变量建立关联的研究之一，可为教育与压力领域的干预实践及未来跨学科研究提供基准参考。