Considering the demanding higher education context, university students are at risk to experience burnout symptoms such as emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy. Theoretical models (e.g., Job Demands-Resources Model) state that burnout symptoms develop over time, vary between individuals, and bear adverse consequences. To date, the temporal development of student burnout symptoms within semesters, inter-individual differences in their development, and the role of their development for academic outcomes like student dropout are understudied. To complement this limited research, we used date of a three-wave longitudinal study with N = 1435 undergraduate students over one semester. First, we modeled unconditional second-order latent growth curves to examine the initial levels and trajectories of each burnout symptom (emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy). We then modeled conditional second-order latent growth curves to examine whether initial levels and trajectories differed depending on students’ sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, study progress, and academic major) and associated with students’ intentions to drop out from university. Results indicated a linear increase in student burnout symptoms over the semester. Sociodemographic differences existed in the initial levels of emotional exhaustion and reduced professional efficacy and the trajectories of each symptom. Generally, female, STEM, and higher- and lower- semester students were particularly affected by burnout symptoms. Further, higher initial levels and an increase in each symptom corresponded with higher dropout intentions. Summarizing, the results highlighted that student burnout symptoms increase as the semester progresses, seem more pronounced among certain student groups, and operate as strong predictors for dropout intentions.

考虑到高要求的高等教育环境，大学生有可能出现倦怠症状，如情绪耗竭、愤世嫉俗和职业效能下降。理论模型（例如，工作需求-资源模型）指出，倦怠症状会随着时间的推移而发展，因人而异，并会带来不利后果。迄今为止，学生倦怠症状在学期内的时间发展、他们发展的个体差异以及他们的发展对学生辍学等学业成果的作用尚未得到充分研究。为了补充这项有限的研究，我们使用了一个学期的三波纵向研究的日期，其中N  = 1435 名本科生。首先，我们模拟无条件二阶潜在增长曲线，用于检查每种倦怠症状（情绪耗竭、愤世嫉俗和职业效能下降）的初始水平和轨迹。然后我们模拟条件二阶潜在增长曲线，以检查初始水平和轨迹是否因学生的社会人口学特征（性别、年龄、学习进度和学术专业）而不同，并与学生辍学的意图相关。结果表明，整个学期学生的倦怠症状呈线性增加。社会人口统计学差异存在于情绪耗竭和职业效能下降的初始水平以及每种症状的轨迹中。一般而言，女性、STEM 以及高年级和低年级学生特别容易受到职业倦怠症状的影响。此外，较高的初始水平和每种症状的增加与较高的辍学意向相对应。总而言之，结果强调学生倦怠症状随着学期的进展而增加，