Structural Relationships between Perceptions of Parents, Basic Psychological Needs and Academic Burnout in Medical Students

Introduction: Academic burnout characterized by fatigue due to study requirements, pessimistic feelings, and attitudes toward subjects, poor academic achievement, decreased competence, and some depressive symptoms and can influenced by individual and contextual factors. The purpose of this study was to examine the structural relationships between perceptions of parents, basic psychological needs and academic burnout about students within the framework of self-determination theory. Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study, the population consisted of undergraduate students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2017-2018. From this population, 400 individuals selected by multistage random sampling. Data collected through Robbins`s perception of parents scale, Gagné` s Basic Needs satisfaction General Scale, and Maslach` s Burnout Inventory-Student Survey. Descriptive indices and Structural Equation Modeling was used for data analysis. Descriptive indices and structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Data were analyzed using SPSS.25 and AMOS.24 . Results: The results showed that perceptions of maternal and paternal parenting due to their basic psychological needs had an indirect and significant effect on students' academic burnout (P≥0.01). The structural model also had a good fit (c2/df=2.61; AGFI=0.91; GFI=0.95; CFI=0.96; NFI=0.93; TLI=0.94; RMSEA=0.06) and it can explain 54% of students' academic burnout variance. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it seems that providing a family-friendly environment with parental support, establishing warm and intimate relationships and having expectations appropriate to the abilities of the children, will help to satisfy their basic psychological needs and ultimately promote their academic adjustments.