The impact of subjective well-being on college students’ academic burnout: the chain mediating role of psychological resilience and academic stress

In the current context of higher education, university students face increasing academic pressure, and academic burnout has become an increasingly prominent issue, affecting both learning adaptation and mental health. This study examines the mechanism through which subjective well-being influences academic burnout, with a particular focus on the serial mediating roles of psychological resilience and academic stress. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey from 841 Chinese undergraduates, measuring subjective well-being, psychological resilience, academic stress, and academic burnout. Results indicated that: (1) subjective well-being was directly and negatively associated with academic burnout; (2) psychological resilience mediated the relationship between subjective well-being and academic burnout, whereas the independent mediating effect of academic stress was not significant; and (3) psychological resilience and academic stress jointly formed a serial mediation pathway linking subjective well-being to academic burnout. These findings highlight the pivotal roles of resilience and stress perception in translating positive psychological states into lower levels of academic burnout. The results provide empirical evidence for enhancing students’ subjective well-being and alleviating academic burnout in higher education.