Factor Structure of the School Burnout Questionnaire via Confirmatory Factor Analysis in High School Students

Burnout among students refers to feeling exhausted because of study demands, having a cynical and detached attitude toward one’s study, and feeling incompetent as a student. This study examines the validity and the reliability of schoolburnout inventory (SBI) in high schools via confirmatory factor analysis. This research adopted a descriptive approach. The study sample included a total of 520 (270 girls, 250 boys) adolescents, selected through random multi-cluster sampling from among high schools of Tabriz. Participants filled out a questionnaire concerning their school burnout.The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the three-factor solution, compared to other models, fit the data best and also gave the best reliability indices. The three theoretically-derived dimensions of school burnout were closely related but had separate constructs. Finally, the concurrent validity for the School-Burnout Inventory (SBI) was found and the correlations of school engagement with each of the three dimensions of school burnout were examined: the lower their school engagement, the more exhaustion, cynicism and inadequacy they reported. The present study introduced the new concept of school burnout and its measurement instrument in the educational and counseling contexts.