Student burnout and work engagement: a canonical correlation analysis Nuwan Darshana Wickramasinghe 1 & Devani Sakunthala Dissanayake 2 & Gihan Sajiwa Abeywardena 3 Accepted: 11 July 2021 # The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2021 Abstract This school-based cross-sectional study, conducted among 872 grade thirteen students in Sri Lanka, assessed the complex relationship between burnout and work engagement using the validated Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS) and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Version (UWES-S). In canonical correlation analysis (CCA), three subscale scores of MBI-SS [Exhaustion (EX), Cynicism (CY), reduced Professional Efficiency (rPE)] and three subscale scores of UWES-S [Vigor (VI), Dedication (DE), Absorption (AB)] were used as the criterion and predictor variables respectively. The full model across three functions yielded by CCA was statistically significant (p < 0.001), explaining 64.7% of the variance between the variable sets. The dimension reduction analysis considered the first two functions accounted for 52.9% and 22.7% of shared variance respectively. In Function 1, EX was the most relevant criterion variable contributing to burnout [structure coefficient (rs) = 0.998], while all three variables were positively related. Furthermore, VI (rs = -0.959) and AB (rs = -0.899) variables were the primary contributors to work engagement. The canonical correlation between the burnout and work engagement variables was found to be high (0.727). This complex, strong relationship between burnout and work engagement among students provides a platform to develop evidence-informed policies focusing on student engagement as a means of promoting mental well-being of students. Keywords Burnout . Work engagement . Canonical correlation analysis . School psychology . Multivariate analysis Introduction In the context of increasing complexity and competitiveness in diverse educational environments, the mental health prob- lems among different student populations across the globe are on the rise. Global evidence suggests that burnout is an im- portant emerging health issue amongst the wide range of men- tal health problems affecting school and college students (Walburg, 2014). Research on student burnout gained momentum following the introduction of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS) (Schaufeli, Martinez, et al., 2002a). Schaufeli, Martinez, et al. (2002a) during their pioneering re- search in introducing MBI-SS have defined student burnout as, “a three-dimensional syndrome that is characterised by feelings of exhaustion due to the demands of studying, a cynical attitude of withdrawal and detachment, and reduced professional effi- cacy regarding academic requirements”. Though various study instruments have been used to assess burnout among student populations, MBI-SS is the most widely used research instru- ment to assess burnout in global literature (Campos et al., 2013; Csikszentmihalyi & Seligman, 2000; Gil-Monte, 2005; Marôco & Campos, 2012; Wickramasinghe et al., 2018a). Amongst the different student populations in the globe, wealth of research concerning student burnout has been con- ducted among university undergraduates and in them; the prime target population under concern has been medical undergradu- ates. (Frajerman et al., 2019; Hu & Schaufeli, 2009; IsHak et al., 2013). In comparison to the plethora of research conducted among university undergraduates, the studies conducted among high school students are scanty. Even amongst them, the mag- nitude of the problem had been quantified in terms of prevalence only in a very limited number. The reported prevalence of * Nuwan Darshana Wickramasinghe nuwick74@yahoo.com 1 Department of Community Medicine - Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Saliyapura, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Community Medicine - Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 3 Psychiatry Unit, Teaching Hospital-Kandy, Kandy, Sri Lanka Current Psychology https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02113-8