•  
  •  
 

ORCID ID

Kai Eng Joanne Lim: 0009-0003-5651-094X

Khang Jin Cheah: 0000-0002-1805-4483

Farzana Athirah Abdul Latif: 0009-0000-6117-2082

Fatin Izzaty Mohd Shahrin: 0009-0009-4950-2267

Abstract

Background: Academic burnout among Malaysian undergraduates is a rising concern, driven by academic pressure and compounded by lifestyle and behavioural factors. This study aimed to examine the associations between academic burnout, sleep quality, physical activity, and social media addiction.

Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 382 undergraduate students was conducted using an online survey to collect the data. The chi-square test was used to assess bivariate associations, and multivariable logistic regression was employed to identify independent predictors of academic burnout.

Results: The majority of respondents were aged 21 to 23 years (59.7%) and female (60.7%). Overall, 56.0% of respondents experienced academic burnout, with poor sleep quality highly prevalent (90.1%), 52.4% classified as minimally active, and 92.9% not meeting the criteria for social media addiction. Sleep quality was significantly associated with academic burnout in both the bivariate chi-square analysis (p = 0.030) and logistic regression analysis (p = 0.039). No significant associations were found between physical activity or social media addiction with academic burnout.

Conclusions: Poor sleep quality and a minimally active level of physical activity were prevalent among university students, with sleep quality showed a significant association with academic burnout. Further research is needed to elucidate additional contributing factors and support the development of effective health promotion strategies in university settings.

References

  1. World Health Organization. Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases. New York: World Health Organization, 2019.
  2. Deng Y, Cherian J, Khan NUN, Kumari K, Sial MS, Comite U, et al. Family and academic stress and their impact on students' depression level and academic performance. Front Psychiatry. 2022;13:869337.
  3. Liu X, Zhu C, Dong Z, Luo Y. The relationship between stress and academic self-efficacy among students at Elite Colleges: A longitudinal analysis. Behav Sci. 2024;14:537.
  4. Lee KP, Yeung N, Wong C, Yip B, Luk LHF, Wong S. Prevalence of medical students' burnout and its associated demographics and lifestyle factors in Hong Kong. PLoS One. 2020;15:e0235154.
  5. Li YMD, Cao LMB, Liu JMM, Zhang TMD, Yang YMM, Shi WMD, et al. The prevalence and associated factors of burnout among undergraduates in a university. Medicine. 2021;100:e26589.
  6. Liu J, Min L, Liu R, Zhang X, Wu M, Di Q, et al. The effect of exercise on cerebral blood flow and executive function among young adults: A double-blinded randomized controlled trial. Sci Rep. 2023;13:8269.
  7. Daud N, Mat Pa MN, Rahim AFA, Ahmad A, Mat Hassan N. Academic factors associated with burnout in Malaysian Medical students: A cross-sectional study. Educ Med J. 2020;12:49–58.
  8. Göhre IP. The influence of sleep quality on student burnout. Stud Undergrad Res eJ. 2018;4.
  9. Wang H, Fan X. Academic stress and sleep quality among Chinese adolescents: Chain mediating effects of anxiety and school burnout. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20:2219.
  10. Suardiaz-Muro M, Ortega-Moreno M, Morante-Ruiz M, Monroy M, Ruiz MA, Martín-Plasencia P, et al. Sleep quality and sleep deprivation: relationship with academic performance in university students during examination period. Sleep Biol Rhythms. 2023;21:377–83.
  11. Naczenski LM, de Vries JD, van Hooff MLM, Kompier MAJ. Systematic review of the association between physical activity and burnout. J Occup Health. 2017;59:477–94.
  12. Liu C, Ma J. Social media addiction and burnout: The mediating roles of envy and social media use anxiety. Curr Psychol. 2020;39:1883–91.
  13. Kim J-h, Jung S-h, Choi H-j. Antecedents influencing SNS addiction and exhaustion (fatigue syndrome): Focusing on six countries. Behav Inf Technol. 2023;42:2601–25.
  14. Olson N, Oberhoffer-Fritz R, Reiner B, Schulz T. Study related factors associated with study engagement and student burnout among German university students. Front Public Health. 2023;11:1168264.
  15. Thew HZ, Ching SM, Sallahuddin NA, Nooralirakiz PND, David TS, Zaidi IKH, et al. Prevalence of burnout and its associated factors among medical students in a public university in Selangor, Malaysia: A cross-sectional study. Malays J Med Health Sci. 2023;19:197–204.
  16. Cochran WG. Sampling Techniques. 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 1977.
  17. Schaufeli WB, Martínez IM, Pinto AM, Salanova M, Bakker AM. Burnout and engagement in university students: A cross-national study. J Cross-Cult Psychol. 2002;33:464–81.
  18. Puranitee P, Saetang S, Sumrithe S, Busari JO, van Mook WNKA, Heeneman S. Exploring burnout and depression of Thai medical students: The psychometric properties of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Int J Med Educ. 2019;10:223–9.
  19. Buysse DJ, Reynolds CF, Monk TH, Berman SR, Kupfer DJ. The Pittsburgh sleep quality index: A new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Res. 1989;28:193–213.
  20. Smyth C. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) [Internet]. New York: The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing; 2012.
  21. International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Guidelines for Data Processing and Analysis of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) [Internet]. International Physical Activity Questionnaire; 2005.
  22. Ács P, Veress R, Rocha P, Tamás Dóczi, Bence László Raposa, Petra Baumann, et al. Criterion validity and reliability of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire–Hungarian short form against the RM42 accelerometer. BMC Public Health. 2021;21:381.
  23. Andreassen CS, Billieux J, Griffiths MD, Kuss DJ, Demetrovics Z, Mazzoni E, et al. The relationship between addictive use of social media and video games and symptoms of psychiatric disorders: A large-scale cross-sectional study. Psychol Addict Behav. 2016;30:252–62.
  24. Shin NY. Psychometric properties of the Bergen social media addiction scale in Korean young adults. Psychiatry Invest. 2022;19:356–61.
  25. Liu X, Lang L, Wang R, Chen W, Ren X, Lin Y, et al. Poor sleep quality and its related risk factors among university students. Ann Palliative Med. 2021;10:4479–85.
  26. Reyes-de-Cózar S, Merino-Cajaraville A, Salguero-Pazos MR. Avoiding academic burnout: Academic factors that enhance university student engagement. Behav Sci. 2023;13:989.
  27. Saat NZM, Hanawi SA, Farah NMF, Amin HM, Hanafiah H, Selvaraj T. Associations of physical activity, sleep quality and cardiovascular risk factors in university students. Sustainability. 2021;13:11806.
  28. Ong SC, Azman N, Ho HT. Factors associated with sleeping quality and behaviors among university students in Malaysia. Sleep Med Res. 2023;14:43–9.
  29. Mohamad NA, Hamirudin AH. Night eating syndrome and its association with sleep quality and stress between male and female undergraduate students. Int J Allied Health Sci. 2023;7:133–42.
  30. You HW, Tan PL, AF ML. The relationship between physical activity, body mass index and body composition among students at a Pre-University Centre in Malaysia. IIUM Med J Malays. 2020;19:83–8.
  31. Tey WY, Loo RY, Tsai M-C, Say YH, Ng AK, Tan SS, et al. Physical activity, eating behavior, and body image perception among university students. Discov Soc Sci Health. 2025;5:17.
  32. Azmi NA, Zaki NTA, Kong MC, Ab Rahman NNA, Zanudin A. Correlation of physical activity level with physical fitness and respiratory function amongst undergraduates. Trends Sci. 2021;18:24.
  33. Verma AK, Singh G, Patwardhan K. Patterns of physical activity among university students and their perceptions about the curricular content concerned with health: Cross-sectional study. JMIRx Med. 2022;3:e31521.
  34. Espada M, Romero-Parra N, Bores-García D, Delfa-De La Morena JM. Gender differences in university students’ levels of physical activity and motivations to engage in physical activity. Educ Sci. 2023;13:340.
  35. Carballo-Fazanes A, Rico-Díaz J, Barcala-Furelos R, Rey E, Rodríguez-Fernández JE, Varela-Casal C, et al. Physical activity habits and determinants, sedentary behaviour and lifestyle in university students. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17:3272.
  36. Salari N, Zarei H, Hosseinian-Far A, Rasoulpoor S, Shohaimi S, Mohammadi M. The global prevalence of social media addiction among university students: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Public Health. 2025;33:223–36.
  37. Zaw CC, Azenal NA. Association between social media addiction and mental health among International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) undergraduate nursing students. Int J Care Scholars. 2021;4:32–9.
  38. Rahiminia H, Soori H, Jafari M, Khodakarim S. The Prevalence of Addiction to social network among students in iran and its factors related: A study conducted in 2020. Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. 2021;17:170–6.
  39. Chen M, Xiao X. The effect of social media on the development of students’ affective variables. Front Psychol. 2022;13:1010766.
  40. Nishanthi A, Agilan P, Vimal M, Shanthi M. Patterns of physical activity and its association with gender and academic year among undergraduate medical students. J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2024;15:61–8.
  41. May RW, Bauer KN, Seibert GS, Jaurequi ME, Fincham FD. School burnout is related to sleep quality and perseverative cognition regulation at bedtime in young adults. Learn Individual Differ. 2020;78:101821.
  42. Naderi H, Dehghan H, Dehrouyeh S, Tajik E. Academic burnout among undergraduate nursing students: Predicting the role of sleep quality and healthy lifestyle. Res Dev Med Educ. 2021;10:16.
  43. Madigan DJ, Curran T. Does burnout affect academic achievement? A meta-analysis of over 100,000 students. Educ Psychol Rev. 2021;33:387–405.
  44. Tomaszek K, Muchacka-Cymerman A. Be aware of burnout! The role of changes in academic burnout in problematic Facebook usage among university students. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18:8055.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.