ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026
Learning engagement and academic performance in Chinese higher education: serial mediation of grit and happiness and the conditional indirect effect of academic burnout.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
This study aimed to examine whether grit and happiness mediate the relationship between learning engagement and academic performance, and whether this indirect effect is moderated by academic burnout among Chinese university students. This study employed a cross-sectional correlational survey design to examine the relationships among learning engagement, grit, happiness, academic burnout, and academic performance. A total of 656 undergraduate students were recruited using a multistage stratified sampling design across multiple regions in China. Data were collected using self-reported questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS 25.0, AMOS 23.0, and PROCESS Macro 4.2. Statistical techniques included descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, correlation analysis, measurement model testing, and moderated mediation analysis. The findings revealed that learning engagement, grit, happiness, and academic performance were positively and significantly correlated, whereas academic burnout was negatively correlated with each of these variables. Second, a moderated serial mediation effect was observed. Academic burnout moderated the indirect pathway from learning engagement to academic performance via grit and happiness. The conditional indirect effects were significant across low, mean, and high levels of academic burnout (effects ranging from.0110 to.0137; 95% bootstrap CIs did not include zero). These results highlight the mechanism of academic burnout as a psychological risk factor that can weaken the positive pathway from learning engagement to academic performance. The findings provide practical implications for educational practice, suggesting that interventions aimed at enhancing learning engagement, strengthening students' psychological resources (e.g., grit and happiness), and reducing academic burnout may help support students' academic success.
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