The Effect Of Parental Expectation On Learning Burnout Of Secondary Vocational Students:A Moderated Mediation Model

With the transformation and upgrading of China’s industrial structure,vocational education,which aims to cultivate professional and technical talents,is receiving more and more attention;in addition,under the policy of "integration of vocational education and general education",further education and employment have become the dual-track route of vocational education.However,the psychological problems of secondary school students in learning and life under vocational education have been under-appreciated,among which the problem of learning burnout is more prominent.This study combines external environmental factors and internal factors to investigate four aspects: parental expectations,self-expectations,learning burnout and perceived social support,with the aim of investigating the influence of parental expectations on learning burnout,the mediating role of self-expectations in between and the moderating role of perceived social support.In this study,506 three-year secondary school students in a secondary vocational school in Guangzhou were surveyed,and the instruments included the Parental Expectations Questionnaire,the Student Self-Expectations Scale,the Adolescent Burnout Scale and the Appreciative Social Support Scale:(1)The level of burnout among secondary school students is of concern,and there are significant differences in their location and whether they are class cadres,with those living in towns having lower burnout than those living in rural areas,and those who are class cadres having lower burnout than those who are not class cadres;(2)Parental expectations of secondary school students differed significantly in terms of grade,location and whether they were class cadres,with the highest parental expectations among second-year students,higher among students living in towns than in rural areas,and higher among students who were class cadres than among those who were not class cadres;(3)There are significant differences in both the self-expectations and perceived social support of secondary school students in terms of gender and whether they are class cadres,with female students having higher perceived social support than male students,and students who are class cadres having higher perceived social support than those who are not class cadres;(4)The effect of secondary school students’ parental expectations on burnout is indirectly influenced by the effect of secondary school students’ self-expectations,in which the variable of self-expectations plays a fully mediating role,i.e.the higher the parental expectations,the higher the self-expectations of secondary school students,which in turn is more likely to reduce their level of burnout;(5)Perceived social support moderated the effect of self-expectation on burnout,i.e.it moderated the second half of the mediated pathway of "parental expectation →self-expectation→learning burnout".In view of the above findings,this study proposes the following suggestions on how to improve burnout among secondary school students:(1)To bring into play the role of positive parental expectations to cultivate healthy academic emotions in students;(2)Positively guiding students to understand themselves and develop their own positive expectations;(3)Constructing a pluralistic social support system to create an atmosphere of mutual support.