Burnout scolaire et consommation de substances: une étude exploratoire chez des adolescents «tout-venant».

Abstract

Objectif. – Décrire la nature du burnout scolaire récemment défini chez l’adolescent comme un syndrome d’épuisement, de cynisme et d’inadéquation envers l’école. Puis, explorer les associations du burnout et du stress scolaire avec la consommation de substances. Méthode. – Au total, 380 adolescents de suisse francophone, en première année de formation post-obligatoire de type académique au gymnase (l’équivalent du lycée générale et technologique en France), ont répondu à un questionnaire sur le burnout scolaire, le stress lié à l’école et la consommation de substances. Résultats. – Le sentiment d’inadéquation qui traduit un manque d’accomplissement et un sentiment d’insuffisance à l’école apparaît comme la principale dimension du burnout chez les adolescents de notre étude. Il apparaît également que le cynisme, l’inadéquation et le stress lié à la charge de travail sont associés à la fréquence de consommation d’alcool et de cannabis. Enfin, les adolescents dont la consommation de substances constitue un problème émergeant en termes de fréquence et de conséquences négatives dans différents domaines rapportent des niveaux d’épuisement, de cynisme et de stress lié à la charge de travail particulièrement élevés. Conclusion. – Il est par conséquent important de renforcer les mesures permettant de réduire le sentiment d’inadéquation chez les adolescents, et ce dès leur entrée au gymnase (lycée). De plus, une attention particulière devrait être portée aux élèves qui ont un problème émergent de consommation. En effet, ces adolescents pourraient avoir recours à l’utilisation de substances comme moyen de faire face à l’épuisement et stress lié au travail scolaire.

Background. – First studied in adults, the concept of burnout was recently extended to adolescents in order to evaluate the impact of school demands on their health. School burnout can be defined as a syndrome of (1) exhaustion related to school demands, (2) cynical and detached attitudes towards school, and (3) feelings of inadequacy as a student (Salmela-Aro, 2011). The prevalence of school burnout range from 6.8% to 15% (Salmela-Aro, 2011) and the level of exhaustion is particularly high among adolescents starting a post-comprehensive academic training (Salmela-Aro et al., 2008). Several studies have also pointed out the relations between burnout and school stress (Meylan et al., 2011) as well as between school stress and substance use (Byrne and Mazanov, 1999). Therefore, the aim of this study is to describe the nature of school burnout and to explore its relationship with substance use in adolescents at the beginning of post-comprehensive schooling. Method. – Our sample consisted of 380 adolescents recruited from a mainstream high school in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Among adolescents, 207 were boys and 173 were girls, mean age was 16.17 (SD = 0.94). All adolescents attended the first grade of post-comprehensive schooling and were enrolled in an academic track. They answered questionnaires about school burnout, school stress and substance use. Results. – Within-subject analysis of variance showed that feelings of inadequacy as a student is the most important dimension of school burnout in adolescents of our sample. Correlations show that cynical attitudes towards school, feelings of inadequacy as a student and stress related to school demands are positively associated with alcohol and cannabis consumption, with correlations from 0.10 to 0.16 (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis of variance showed that levels of burnout and school stress differ depending on the severity of substance use. Indeed, adolescents, whose substance use constitutes an emerging problem, are more highly exhausted, more cynical and more stressed by school related work. Finally, we show that 21% of adolescents in our sample have a high level of burnout and about 15% have a problematic substance use. Conclusions. – It is therefore important to strengthen measures to reduce feelings of inadequacy in students at the beginning of post-comprehensive schooling. A particular attention should be directed toward students whose substance use constitute an emerging problem and who may use substance as a strategy to manage stress related to school work.