Familial Academic Values as an Academic Demand: Predicting Risk Profiles of Engagement and Burnout in Chinese Adolescents

Abstract

Existing cross-cultural studies have identified distinct combinations of schoolwork engagement and burnout among students, but their distribution within Chinese contexts remains unclear. Rooted in traditional Confucian culture, Chinese students’ learning behaviors are highly driven by familial academic values, such as fulfilling parental educational aspirations or bringing honor to the family through achieving academically. However, whether these factors constitute demands or resources within the Study Demands-Resources model (SD-R) remains debated. This one-year longitudinal study profiled 1,375 Chinese adolescents (Mage=14.59±0.70; 55.8% boys) based on schoolwork engagement and burnout, compared group differences in academic satisfaction and stress, and identified predictors of profile membership, including parental educational aspirations, family achievement recognition, gender, and socioeconomic status. Latent profile analysis revealed three profiles: “Engaged” (33.38%), “Engaged-Exhausted” (52.36%), and “Burnout” (14.26%). The Engaged group showed optimal adaptation, with the highest engagement, lowest burnout, highest academic satisfaction, and lowest academic stress. The Engaged-Exhausted group experienced exhaustion simultaneously with engagement, reporting moderate academic satisfaction and stress. The Burnout group exhibited cynicism-dominated burnout, alongside the lowest satisfaction and highest stress. Higher parental educational aspirations, stronger family achievement recognition, female gender, and lower socioeconomic status increased the likelihood of belonging to the Engaged-Exhausted or Burnout profiles. The results indicate the prevalence of the Engaged-Exhausted pattern among Chinese adolescents, suggesting educators should address hidden psychological exhaustion in “superficially engaged” students. The findings empirically reframe familial academic values as demands within the SD-R framework, providing evidence for designing targeted educational interventions and optimizing parenting practices to foster academic engagement and support student well-being.