Mental health among university students represents a growing concern during the COVID-19 pandemic as a robust base of research evidence shows that the current statue of mental health in this population is apparently worsening1,2. A survey 1 investigating 89,588 university students in China found about two-fifths of them experienced anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 epidemic, and another study 2 involving 164,101 university students reported high prevalence of 34.6%, 21.6% and 11.4% regarding acute stress, depressive and anxiety symptoms respectively during the COVID-19 epidemic, which even showed a significant increase after the initial stage of the outbreak.
Burnout is a key contributor to mental health problems that needs to be well addressed. It is manifested as a feeling of exhaustion due to study demands, a cynical attitude toward one's study, and a sense of incompetence as a student 3. Burnout has also been found to be prevalent among university students during the pandemic 4,5, and several negative outcomes have been discovered to be associated with burnout, like higher level of stress 6, depression 7, anxiety 8, and suicidal ideation 9.
Some studies have revealed that mindfulness may serve as a protective element in the reduction of burnout 10. Mindfulness has its root in Buddhism, and is most commonly defined as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment” 11. The conscious attention and awareness cultivated through mindfulness can keep one being in the state of present reality 12, which may be the premise in fostering a variety of well-being outcomes, including burnout 13. Though a wide range of studies have verified the beneficial effects of mindfulness in the alleviation of burnout, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear and need further investigation.
Psychosocial factors have been frequently shown as important outcomes of mindfulness-based trainings 14, which are also highly associated with burnout 15,16. In the present study, we focus on positive and negative affect as well as perceived social support as the potential pathways linking mindfulness and burnout in the student population. Positive affect (PA) refers to the degree to which a person feels energetic, enthusiastic, and active 17. In contrast, negative affect (NA) reflects a distress state when a person is involved in some unpleasurable events 17. Studies 18–20 have proved that affect has a profound impact on individual's state of health, as well as burnout. Moreover, a meta-analysis also revealed correlation of mindfulness with PA and NA, suggesting that mindfulness was positively linked to positive affect and negatively associated with negative affect 21.
Different from actual provision supplied by social networks, perceived social support refers to the degree to which an individual considers he or she can draw from their family, friends, and significant important others to get the support, information, and feedback 22. Preliminary evidence have revealed the association between perceived social support and well-being outcomes including burnout 23, indicating the beneficial role perceived social support plays in coping with health-related issues. Studies have also found that perceived social support can be improved through the cultivation of mindfulness, with hypothesizing that mindfulness enables individuals to put greater attentiveness to the relationship transaction between one another and be more conscious of the support they receive from their social networks 24,25.
The aims of this study were to investigate the relationship of mindfulness and burnout in university students in China during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to explore the roles that perceived social support and emotion played in the association. We hypothesize that mindfulness was significantly associated to students’ burnout, which relationship was mediated by positive and negative affect, and perceived social support.