This study aimed to identify predictors of burnout and stress in undergraduate students. Previous research has shown connections between mindfulness, stress, and burnout. For example, there has been a significant negative correlation between stress and the five facets of mindfulness: observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging, and non-reactivity. Additionally, mindfulness has been shown to negatively correlate with the following factors of burnout: emotional exhaustion and personal efficacy. One hundred and twenty-six (N= 126) undergraduate students participated in the current study. Four hypotheses were constructed based on the information from prior literature. Hypothesis 1: Scores of observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and non-reactivity to inner experience predict emotional exhaustion scores. Hypothesis 2: Scores of observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and non-reactivity to inner experience predict depersonalization scores. Hypothesis 3: Scores of observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and non-reactivity to inner experience predict loss of personal accomplishment scores. Hypothesis 4: Scores of observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and non-reactivity to inner experience predict stress scores. The Five Facets of Mindfulness Short Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the Perceived Stress Scale were utilized to collect the necessary data needed to test the four hypotheses. Multiple regression analyses were performed via SPSS software. Results showed that non-reactivity and acting with awareness negatively predicted emotional exhaustion. No significant results were found between observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging, and non-reactivity to inner experience and depersonalization. Results showed that observing and describing negatively predicted loss of personal accomplishment. Lastly, results showed that non-reactivity and acting with awareness negatively predicted stress. The limitations this study encountered were the population, as it was limited to a small, private, Christian university in the southeast, and that the majority of the sample consisted of freshmen.
A Study of the Predictors of Stress and Burnout via Mindfulness
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Student Abstract Submission