Family Satisfaction and Psychological Exhaustion as Predictors of Stress in Postgraduate Students

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between family well-being, burnout, and perceived stress among postgraduate students in Chile, also considering the effect of sociodemographic variables such as age, gender, and relationship status. Objective: To determine whether burnout mediates the relationship between family well-being and perceived stress. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted with a convenience sample of 106 students enrolled in the Master’s Program in Socio-Legal Intervention in Families. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), a brief burnout scale, and a family well-being scale were administered. Analyses included descriptive statistics, correlations, multiple regressions, and a mediation model with 10,000 bootstrap resamples controlling for sociodemographic variables. Results: Higher family well-being was significantly associated with lower levels of burnout and perceived stress. Moreover, burnout showed a positive association with stress, acting as a partial mediator between family well-being and perceived stress. Conclusions: Family well-being appears to buffer stress among postgraduate students by reducing emotional exhaustion. It is recommended to implement psychosocial strategies that strengthen family support and promote emotional self-regulation, as well as to conduct longitudinal studies to examine causal directionality.