The influence of parental social support on academic burnout among vocational undergraduate students in Shandong Province, China

Academic burnout is common among Chinese vocational undergraduate students, where high tuition fees, low motivation, and emotional exhaustion pose frequent challenges. Parental social support and academic self-efficacy have been shown to alleviate these challenges, and gender differences may affect their impact. This study explores the mediating role of academic self-efficacy in the association between parental social support and academic burnout. It also analyzes the moderating role of gender in the association between parental social support and academic self-efficacy among vocational undergraduate students in Shandong Province, China. In total, 563 vocational undergraduate students from three vocational undergraduate colleges in Shandong Province were recruited for this study. The gender distribution of the sample was relatively balanced (50.1% male and 49.9% female). Participants were predominantly aged between 18 and 21 years, and the largest proportion were first-year students, followed by fourth-year, second-year, and third-year students. Structural equation modeling was employed to establish both measurement and structural models. Our findings show that parental social support was negatively associated with students' academic burnout. In addition, academic self-efficacy partially mediated the association between parental social support and academic burnout. The association between parental social support and academic self-efficacy was significantly stronger among male than female students. These findings suggest that vocational undergraduate colleges should provide targeted academic guidance, especially for female students, to strengthen academic confidence and help reduce academic burnout.