Explorer les déterminismes du burnout chez des lycéens français et évaluer l’effet médiateur de la dépression entre le burnout et les idées de suicide.

Deux cent cinquante-six lycéens de première et terminale ont complété des questionnaires relatifs à la dépression, aux idées suicidaires, au burnout, au stress scolaire, à la pression perçue et au perfectionnisme.

Le burnout est prédit par le stress scolaire, la pression perçue parentale ainsi que la pression perçue en provenance des pairs ; le perfectionnisme cependant apparaît comme un facteur protecteur. Et comme attendu, la dépression a un effet médiateur entre le burnout et les idées suicidaires.

Il est par conséquent important de tenir compte du stress scolaire et du burnout dans la prévention des tentatives de suicide des adolescents. Des prises en charge orientées vers la résolution de problèmes ou l’amélioration du sentiment d’auto-efficacité pourraient être intéressantes à explorer.

Recent previous studies have highlighted the existence of burnout among high-school students. Burnout among high-school students has been described as a continuum between academic stress and severe burnout. Moreover, as for adults, burnout in school context is a three-dimensional concept that includes: exhausting concerning school demands, cynical attitudes towards school and sense of inadequacy as a student (Salmela-Aro et al., 2009). Previous research has shown that burnout can engender depression (Salmela-Aro et al., 2009), and that, depression in turn could lead to suicide ideas among adolescents (Garlow et al., 2008). Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the determinisms of burnout among French high-school students and to evaluate the mediator effect of depression between burnout and suicidal ideations.

Two hundred and fifty-six high-school students from 11th and 12th grades participated in this study. Among the participants, 135 were boys and 117 were girls, mean age was 16.9years (SD=0.88). The participants completed questionnaires about depression, suicidal ideations, burnout, academic stress, perceived pressure and perfectionism.

Regression analyzes were performed in order to determine the predictor variables of school burnout. The results indicates that burnout was predicted by academic stress, perceived pressure provided by parents and provided by peers; perfectionism however appears as a protective factor. In a second step mediation analyses using multiple regressions were performed. As expected, depression was a mediator between burnout and suicidal ideations. Since burnout was a significant predictor of depression and of suicide ideas, when depression and burnout are both associated, depression is the principal predictor (β=0.64; t=11, P<0.0001) and burnout is no longer a significant predictor (β=–0.09; t=–1.6; P=0.11). The Sobel post-hoc test confirmed these results (z=8.4, P<0.0001).

Therefore it seems important to take into account academic stress and burnout for prevention of suicidality in adolescents. Psychotherapy interventions, focused on problem solving or improving feelings of self-efficacy, may be interesting to explore.