Social Support Linked to Lower Academic Burnout in Chinese College Athletes

College athletes who feel supported by the people around them report less academic burnout, according to a cross-sectional study of 1,918 athletes from more than 20 Chinese universities. The research, led by Guihua Xu, Xirui Yang and Qiyong Zhang, tested how perceived social support relates to academic burnout through psychological variables specific to student-athletes, whose combined demands of coursework and athletic training place them at elevated risk of burnout toward their studies.

Participants completed standardized questionnaires measuring perceived social support, mental toughness, athlete burnout, cognitive reappraisal and academic burnout. The researchers analyzed the data with serial and moderated serial mediation models using the PROCESS macro, controlling for demographic and sport-related variables. Because the design was cross-sectional, the results describe associations rather than causal effects.

Perceived social support showed a direct negative association with academic burnout (β = −0.122, p < 0.001). Significant indirect associations ran separately through mental toughness and through athlete burnout, and sequentially through both, suggesting that support relates to lower academic burnout partly alongside greater mental toughness and lower athlete burnout.

Cognitive reappraisal moderated specific pathways in unexpected ways. At higher levels of cognitive reappraisal, the negative association between social support and academic burnout was stronger, but so was the positive association between athlete burnout and academic burnout. The mental toughness pathway did not differ significantly across reappraisal levels. The authors caution that cognitive reappraisal should therefore not be interpreted as a uniformly protective buffer.

The findings may inform multicomponent support approaches that strengthen perceived social support and mental toughness while identifying and addressing athlete burnout, with reappraisal-related training applied cautiously and with attention to the specific pathway involved. The researchers note that the effectiveness and boundary conditions of such approaches require longitudinal or experimental testing before firmer conclusions can be drawn.

Subject of Research: Perceived social support and academic burnout among Chinese college athletes

Article Title: The impact of perceived social support on college athletes’ academic burnout: The moderating role of cognitive reappraisal within a serial mediation model

Article References: Xu, G., Yang, X., & Zhang, Q. (2026). The impact of perceived social support on college athletes’ academic burnout: The moderating role of cognitive reappraisal within a serial mediation model. PLOS One, 21(10), e0361222. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361222

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0361222

Keywords: academic burnout, college athletes, perceived social support, mental toughness, athlete burnout, cognitive reappraisal, serial mediation, cross-sectional study, China, questionnaire survey, impact, perceived