Job-finding anxiety and burnout among university students in Türkiye: The mediating role of school alienation and the moderating role of gender

Although prior studies have examined job-finding anxiety, burnout, and school alienation individually, limited research has attempted to integrate these three constructs within a unified framework. This conceptual and contextual gap underscores the need to investigate these interrelations simultaneously, particularly among university students navigating heightened career uncertainties. The present study examined the mediating role of school alienation and the moderating role of gender in the relationship between university students' levels of job-finding anxiety and burnout. A total of 426 university students participated in the study, of whom 54.9% were male (n = 234) and 45.1% were female (n = 192) (Meanage = 23.00, SD = 2.34). The data were collected using the Sports Sciences Students' Job-Finding Anxiety Scale, the University Alienation Scale, and The Burnout Syndrome Inventory Short Version. To test for mediation effects, a simple mediation analysis was conducted, in which job-finding anxiety was treated as the independent variable, alienation as the mediator, and burnout as the dependent variable. Additionally, a conditional mediation analysis was carried out using the Generalized Linear Model module in Jamovi, with gender included as a moderator. Results from a conditional mediation analysis revealed significant positive relationships between job-finding anxiety, burnout, and school alienation among students in the faculty of sports sciences. Furthermore, school alienation was found to mediate the relationship between job-finding anxiety and burnout by transmitting a positive effect (higher job-finding anxiety -+/- higher school alienation -+/- higher burnout), and gender played a moderating role in this interaction such that the indirect path (jobfinding anxiety -+/- alienation -+/- burnout) was slightly stronger for women, whereas the direct path (job-finding anxiety -+/- burnout) was stronger for men. The results of the study were consistent with Conservation of Resources Theory (COR) because job-finding anxiety signals a threat to future resources, school alienation indicates reduced social and personal resources in the university context, and burnout reflects the consequences of continued resource loss. According to the findings, an increase in job-finding anxiety corresponds with a rise in burnout levels among students. The findings highlight the importance of fostering a sense of belonging and implementing gender-sensitive support programs in student counselling and development to reduce job-finding anxiety and burnout.