Alienation from Study as a Predictor of Burnout in University Students: the Role of the Educational Environment Characteristics

The paper presents two studies aimed at development and validation of a scale of alienation in educational context. The first study using samples of university students (N = 395) and high school students (N = 194) involves structural validation of Subjective Alienation Questionnaire for Students using confirmatory factor analysis. The scales of the questionnaire have shown acceptable internal consistency (α = 0,70–0,92) and predictable associations with measures of subjective and psychological well-being, locus of control, life meaning, generalized self-efficacy, and hardiness. The second study using a sample of university students (N = 152) focused on the associations of alienation, burnout, and academic motivation with learning environment characteristics, well-being, and self-reported academic achievement. According to the resulting model, learning motivation and alienation reflect characteristics of relation of the student to the object of learning, whereas burnout reflects the resulting characteristics of learning process. Burnout was predicted by excessive difficulty of learning tasks, high workload, and alienation. Alienation was predicted by low teacher support, low clarity of learning requirements, and lack of choice in studies. Alienation and burnout mediated the asso-ciations of these learning environment characteristics with self-reported academic success and subjective well-being of students.

1. Bazhin E.F., Golynkina E.A., Etkind A.M. Oprosnik urovnya sub”ektivnogo kontrolya (USK) [Perceived locus of control questionnaire (USK)]. Moscow: Smysl, 1993. 16 p.
2. Gordeeva T.O., Sychev O.A., Osin E.N. Vnutrennyaya i vneshnyaya uchebnaya motivatsiya studenttov: ikh istochniki i vliyanie na psikhologicheskoe blagopoluchie [Inner and outer motivation in students: Its sources and influence on psychological well-being]. Voprosy Psikhologii [Psychological Issues], 2013, no. 1, pp. 35–45.
3. Gordeeva T.O., Sychev O.A., Osin E.N. Oprosnik “Shkaly akademicheskoi motivatsii” [“Academic motivation scales” questionnaire]. Psikhologicheskii Zhurnal [Psychological Journal], 2014. Vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 96–107.
4. Leont’ev D.A. Test smyslozhiznennykh orientatsii (SZhO) [Noetic orientations test (SZhO)]. Moscow: Smysl, 1992. 16 p.
5. Leont’ev D.A., Rasskazova E.I. Test zhiznestoikosti [Hardiness test]. Moscow: Smysl, 2006. 63 s.
6. Maddi S. Smysloobrazovanie v protsessakh prinyatiya resheniya [Creating meaning through making decisions]. Psikhologicheskii Zhurnal [Psychological Journal], 2005. Vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 87–101.
7. Marks K. Ekonomichesko-filosofskie rukopisi 1844 goda [Economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844]. In K. Marks, F. Engels. Iz rannikh proizvedenii [From early work]. Moscow: Politizdat, 1956, pp. 517–642.
8. Osin E.N. Smysloutrata kak perezhivanie otchuzhdeniya: struktura i diagnostika. Diss. kand. psikhol. n. [Loss of meaning as experienced alienation: Structure and assessment. Cand.Sci. (Ph.D.) (Psychology) Thesis] Moscow: 2007. 217 p.
9. Osin E.N. Izmerenie pozitivnykh i negativnykh emotsii: razrabotka russkoyazychnogo analoga metodiki PANAS [Measuring Positive and Negative Affect: Development of a Russian-language Analogue of PANAS]. Psikhologiya. Zhurnal Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki [Psychology. Journal of the Higher School of Economics], 2012. Vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 91–110.
10. Osin E.N. Kategoriya otchuzhdeniya v psikhologii obrazovaniya: istoriya i perspektivy [The concept of alienation in educational psychology: History and perspectives]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-Historical Psychology] (in press).
11. Osin E.N., Leont’ev D.A. Smysloutrata i otchuzhdenie [Loss of meaning and alienation]. Kul’turnoistoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 2007, no. 4, pp. 68–77.
12. Osin E.N., Leont’ev D.A. Aprobatsiya russ-koyazychnykh versii dvukh shkal ekspress-otsenki sub”ektivnogo blagopoluchiya [Validation of Russian versions of two brief subjective well-being scales]. Materialy III Vserossiiskogo sotsiologicheskogo kongressa [Proceedings of the Third Russian Sociological Congress]. Moscow: Institut sotsiologii RAN, Rossiiskoe obshchestvo sotsiologov [Institute of So-ciology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Society of Sociologists], 2008.
13. Shaufeli V., Diikstra P., Ivanova T. Uvlechennost’ rabotoi: kak nauchit’sya lyubit’ svoyu rabotu i poluchat’ ot nee udovol’stvie [Engaged at work: How to learn to love your work and enjoy it]. Moscow: Kogito-Tsentr, 2015. 137 p.
14. Shvartser R., Erusalem M., Romek V. Russkaya versiya shkaly obshchei samoeffektivnosti R. Shvartsera i M. Erusalema [Russian version of Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale by R. Schwartzer and M. Jerusalem]. Inostrannaya psikhologiya [Foreign Psychology], 1996, no. 7, pp. 71–76.
15. Shevelenkova T.D., Fesenko P.P. Psikhologicheskoe blagopoluchie lichnosti (obzor os- novnykh kontseptsii i metodika issledovaniya) [Psychological well-being of personality (a review of principal models and a research instrument)]. Psikhologicheskaya diagnostika [Psychological Assessment], 2005, no. 3, pp. 95–129.
16. Bakker A.B., Demerouti E. The Job Demands-Resources model: State of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 2007. Vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 309–328.doi:10.1108/02683940710733115
17. Barnhardt B., Ginns P. An alienation-based framework for student experience in higher educa- tion: new interpretations of past observations in student learning theory. Higher Education, 2014. Vol. 68, no. 6, pp. 789–805. doi:10.1007/s10734-014-9744-y
18. Brown T.A. Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. 2nd Edition. New York: The Guilford Press, 2015. 462 p.
19. Case J.M. Alienation and engagement: Development of an alternative theoretical framework for understanding student learning. Higher Education, 2008. Vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 321–332. doi:10.1007/s10734-007-9057-5
20. Eid M., Lischetzke T., Nussbeck F.W. Structural equation models for multitrait-multimethod data. In M. Eid, E. Diener (eds.). Handbook of Multimethod Measurement in Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2006, pp. 283–299.
21. Jacobs S.R., Dodd D.K. Student burnout as a function of personality, social support, and work-load. Journal of College Student Development, 2003. Vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 291–303. doi:10.1353/csd.2003.0028
22. Kenny D.A., McCoach D.B. Effects of the number of variables on measures of fit in structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling, 2003. Vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 333–351. doi:10.1207/S15328007SEM1003_1
23. Maddi S.R. The existential neurosis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1967. Vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 311–325.
24. Maddi S.R., Kobasa S.C., Hoover M. An Alienation Test. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 1979. Vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 73–76.
25. Maddi S.R., Kobasa S.C., Hoover M. The Alienation Test: A Structured Measure of a Multidimensional Subjective State. Unpublished Manual. University of Chicago, 1980. 30 p.
26. Mann S.J. Alternative perspectives on the student experience: Alienation and engagement. Studies in Higher Education, 2001. Vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 7–19. doi:10.1080/03075070123178
27. Martin-Krumm C., Oger M., Sarrazin P. College pupils’ burnout in France: Links to motivation and evolution during a school year. In T. Freire (ed.) Understanding Positive Life. Research and Practice on Positive Psychology. Lisboa: Climepsi Editores, 2009, pp. 251–269.
28. Maslach C., Schaufeli W.B., Leiter M.P. Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 2001.Vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 397–422. doi:10.1146/annurev. psych.52.1.397
29. Ryan R.M., Deci E.L. Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 2000. Vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 68–78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
30. Salmela-Aro K., Kiuru N., Pietikäinen M., Jokela J. Does School Matter? The Role of School Context in Adolescents’ School-Related Burnout. European Psychologist, 2008. Vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 12–23. doi:10.1027/1016-9040.13.1.12
31. Salmela-Aro K., Kiuru N., Leskinen E., Nurmi J.-E. School-Burnout Inventory (SBI): Reliability and validity. European Journal of Psychological Asssessment, 2009. Vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 48–57.doi:10.1027/1015-5759.25.1.48
32. Schaufeli W.B., Martinez I., Pinto A.M., Salanova M., Bakker A. Burnout and engagement in university students: A cross-national study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2002. Vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 464–481. doi:10.1177/0022022102033005003
33. Seeman M. On the Meaning of Alienation. American Sociological Review, 1959. Vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 783–791.
34. Seeman M. Alienation studies. Annual Review of Sociology, 1975. Vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 91–123.
35. Seeman M. Alienation and Anomie. In J.P. Robinson, P.R. Shaver, L.S. Wrightsman (eds.) Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes. San Diego: Academic Press, 1991. Vol. 1, pp. 291–371.
36. Sidorkin A.M. In the event of learning: Alienation and participative thinking in education. Educational Theory, 2004. Vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 251–262. doi: 10.1111/j.0013-2004.2004.00018.x