ARE MINORITY UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO BURNOUT? A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY EXPLORING DISCRIMINATION AND COPING MECHANISMS

Minority representation and graduation rate in colleges and universities show a significant disparity. One possible reason for this could be the unique challenges that minority students face, including racial discrimination, which may increase susceptibility to burnout. Research has shown that burnout can negatively affect well-being and increase the likelihood of dropping out. Furthermore, some minorities may adopt maladaptive coping mechanisms, which may increase the risk of burnout (Kawakami et al., 2020; Farquhar et al., 2018; Guthrie et al., 1998; Schiller et al., 2018). Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether racial discrimination placed minority students at higher risk of burnout compared to their White peers. Online surveys were employed to collect demographic information (gender, age, income, etc.), perceived racial discrimination, minority status stress, burnout (emotional exhaustion, cynicism, academic efficacy), depression, anxiety, and coping mechanisms adopted by students. Results revealed no significant difference in emotional exhaustion, cynicism, or academic efficacy among minorities and Whites. Furthermore, minority status did not moderate the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and burnout. This could be due to no significant difference in EDS among minorities. Nevertheless, perceived discrimination significantly predicted minority status stress. Future research should explore distinct protective factors that can mitigate burnout, including those shown for Hispanics. Furthermore, it is crucial to investigate various other risk factors that may have a greater influence on burnout prevalence, such as a competitive classroom climate, financial strains, excessive course load, poor time-management abilities, and insufficient reward relative to the effort exerted that may be more influential to burnout prevalence.