When and Why Does Academic Stress Lead to School Burnout Among Gifted Students? A Moderated Mediation Model

The present research investigated whether mental toughness mediated the association between academic stress and school burnout, and the proposed model was moderated by self-oriented perfectionism. Participants were 296 gifted students ( M age = 11.79, SD age = 1.44) from fifth grade through 12th grade, with a predominance of middle school students. Gifted students completed questionnaires assessing academic stress, mental toughness, self-oriented perfectionism, and school burnout. Research results revealed that gifted students’ academic stress was indirectly associated with school burnout through the role of mental toughness. In addition, gifted students’ self-oriented perfectionism moderated the indirect link between academic stress and school burnout through mental toughness. Specifically, the indirect association between academic stress and school burnout was significant for gifted students with a moderate and high level of self-oriented perfectionism. The study contributes to the current literature by clarifying the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying the link between academic stress and school burnout in gifted children. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.