Burnout among high school students is linked to their telomere length and relatedness with peers

Abstract

School burnout is a serious concern, as it impairs students’ health and academic success. According to the Conservation of Resources Theory, burnout results from the depletion of personal coping resources and can be counteracted by supportive social relationships. However, it is not yet clear how students’ relatedness with their peers is linked to their burnout. Next to students’ self-reported fatigue, biomarkers such as telomere length (TL), which presents an indicator of aging, complement stress research. To identify school-related factors that may prevent students from experiencing burnout and to link TL to students’ self-reported burnout, the current study investigated how relatedness with peers as well as TL at the beginning of the school year explained students’ burnout at the end of the school year. The sample included 78 students (Mage = 13.7 ± 0.7 years; 48% girls). Results of multilevel analysis in Mplus indicate that, over the school year, students with higher TL and those who experienced relatedness with their peers reported lower levels of burnout. Moreover, students who felt related to their peers exhibited a longer TL. The study implies that students’ relatedness with their peers may be a promising setscrew to prevent students’ burnout and support their physical health. This is one of the first studies to link TL with school-related variables such as burnout and relatedness to peers in a non-clinical student sample, providing a baseline for interventions and future interdisciplinary studies in the field of education and stress.

Keywords:

• Burnout
• relatedness with peers
• telomere length
• high school students
• multilevel analyses

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, upon a serious request.

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by the seed funding of the University of Greifswald and the Ministry of Education and Child day care.

Notes on contributors

Frances Hoferichter

Frances Hoferichter, PhD, is senior researcher at the University of Greifswald. Her research interests include socio-emotional relationships at school liked to students’ and pre-service teachers’ stress and well-being from an interdisciplinary point of view.

Armin Jentsch

Armin Jentsch, PhD, graduated from the University of Hamburg. He currently works as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oslo, and his research focuses mainly on issues in educational measurement.

Lou Maas

Lou Maas, BSc, graduated from Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, and for 31 years worked as a lab technician at the department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Maastricht University. He was involved in DNA extraction from saliva and measurement of telomere length described in this paper. He passed away in February 2023.

Geja Hageman

Geja Hageman, PhD, is a staff member of the department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Maastricht University. She is involved in teaching in both undergraduate and graduate programs in Health Sciences, Biomedical Sciences and Medicine. Her research focuses on the role of NAD+ in aging and genomic stability. Using a translational approach, her research involves application of biomarkers of aging such as telomere length measurement.