Front Public Health. 2026 Jul 13;14:1789969. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1789969. eCollection 2026.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Despite growing evidence on the association between peer relationships and academic burnout among left-behind children, the underlying psychological mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. This study targeted rural left-behind children experiencing moderate to high academic burnout, and aimed to explore the serial mediating roles of social support and cognitive reappraisal in the relationship between peer relationships and academic burnout among this high-risk vulnerable group.
METHODS: This study employed a cross-sectional design, recruiting a total of 888 eligible rural left-behind children after excluding participants with low academic burnout as participants. All participants completed the Peer Relationship Scale, the Academic Burnout Scale, the Social Support Scale, and the Cognitive Reappraisal subscale of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 27.0, Amos 29.0, and the PROCESS macro.
RESULTS: Regression analysis confirmed a significant negative correlational association between peer relationships and academic burnout (β = -0.325, p < 0.001). Further mediation analyses identified significant statistical correlational pathways linking these variables: this cross-sectional association was transmitted not only through the significant independent correlational pathway roles of social support [β = -0.132, 95% CI (-0.188, -0.078)] and cognitive reappraisal [β = -0.075, 95% CI (-0.116, -0.041)], but also, critically, through the correlational linkage of cognitive reappraisal specifically between social support and academic burnout. These pathways converged into a significant chain mediation correlational effect from social support to cognitive reappraisal [β = -0.022, 95% CI (-0.037, -0.009)].
CONCLUSION: Among rural left-behind children with moderate-to-high academic burnout, peer relationships negatively affect academic burnout via the independent and serial mediating roles of social support and cognitive reappraisal, with social support exerting a stronger mediating effect.
PMID:42517112 | PMC:PMC13402382 | DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2026.1789969
