Impact of learning burnout on emotional and behavior problems in returned migrant middle school students in Guizhou province: the mediating role of childhood abuse

Zheng Yan ^* Fengjiao Ran

• School of Public Health, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China

Purpose: To explore the mediating role of childhood abuse (CA) in the relationship between emotional-behavioral problems (EBP) and learning burnout (LB) for returned migrant high school students in Guizhou province. Methods: This study used the sample data collected from the "Health Status Survey of Secondary School Students in Guizhou Province" conducted by the research group. The baseline survey of 36 secondary schools in Guizhou Province from December 2021 to January 2022. Using multistage stratified cluster random sampling, we finally conducted a face-to-face questionnaire survey among 16,216 secondary school students for analysis in Guizhou Province in Western China. Based on this sample data, secondary school students who met the following conditions were selected as study subjects. Those who had followed both parents (including stepparents and adoptive parents) or one parent out of their household registration (referred to as the "outflow area") to live or studied (≥6 months) in the nonhousehold registration area where they worked (referred to the "inflow area"), and 2020 returned migrant secondary school students were finally obtained as the subjects of this study. The Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire (SDQ), Adolescent Student Burnout Scale (ASBI), and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF) were used to assess EBP, LB, and CA among returned migrant secondary school students. Analyses were conducted using multiple linear regression models, mediation effects, and structural equation modeling.The detection rates of EBP among returned migrant secondary school students in Guizhou Province were borderline (17.1%), and abnormal (11.9%). After adjusting for confounding factors such as demographics, the multiple linear regression model showed that LB positively predicted EPB (β=0.279, P<0.001), and CA positively predicted EBP (β=0.143, P<0.001). The results of the mediation effect model analysis, the direct effect value of LB on EBP was 0.666 (P<0.001), and the mediating effect value of CA was 0.065 (P<0.001). CA played a partially mediating role in the effect of LB on EBP, with a mediating effect percentage of 9.0%. Conclusion: LB could both directly and positively affect the EBP of returned migrant secondary school students, as well as indirectly and positively affected the EBP of returned migrant secondary school students through CA.