Grit Difference in the Association Between Academic Stress and adolescents' Meaning in Life: The Roles of School Burnout and Self-Compassion

BackgroundGiven the cultural and educational environment with Chinese characteristics, academic pressure on adolescents' meaning in life maybe weak or insignificant, which is contradictory with previous studies conducted in Western countries; yet the influencing mechanisms in the association of academic stress with the meaning in life is rarely explored.MethodA questionnaire survey was carried out among 616 adolescents aging from 12 to 18 in Jiangsu Province, China. The Macro process method was conducted to test the proposed theoretical model.ResultsThe direct effect of academic stress on adolescent meaning in life was not significant, whereas the indirect effects through school burnout and self-compassion were significant. Specifically, adolescents who suffer from academic stress are more likely to report increased school burnout and reduced self-compassion, which affects their meaning in life. Besides, grit significantly attenuated the influence of academic stress on school burnout.DiscussionThere are indeed some psychosocial mechanisms including school burnout, self-compassion, and grit in the relation between academic stress and the meaning in life. Those findings imply that the advancement and implementation of relevant intervention projects focusing on improving the meaning in life could be realized by reducing their academic stress and school burnout and promoting their ability of self-compassion and grit.