The Mediating and Moderating Effects of Perceived Social Support on Emotional Exhaustion and Academic Self-Efficacy of Peruvian University Students: A PLS-SEM Approach

The study aimed to analyze the role of perceived social support (family and friends) in the relationship between academic emotional exhaustion and academic self-efficacy, estimating direct, indirect, and interaction effects with PLS-SEM. Method: modeling with SmartPLS 4, with measurement and structural model evaluation. Sample: 175 university students from a faculty of education in Metropolitan Lima, selected by simple random sampling. Results: The loadings were adequate (exhaustion .505–.870; social support .775–.974; self-efficacy .630–.910), with α, composite reliability, and AVE in acceptable ranges; one item was eliminated due to low loading. The model explained R²=0.802 of self-efficacy and showed SRMR of 0.087 (saturated) and 0.098 (estimated). Academic Emotional Exhaustion negatively predicted self-efficacy (β=−0.778), while support from friends was negative (β=−0.456) and support from family was positive (β=0.378); there were significant moderations (friends× Academic Emotional Exhaustion β=0.155; family× Academic Emotional Exhaustion β=−0.202) and mediations (indirect: 0.277 via family; −0.356 via friends). Conclusion: social support is a relevant mechanism; friendships mitigate the effect of exhaustion on self-efficacy, while family shows a less favorable pattern under high exhaustion, with high variance explained by the dependent construct