The mediating role of psychological resilience in the effect of nature contact on stress and academic burnout among university students

This study examined whether psychological resilience mediates the associations of nature related identity with perceived stress and academic burnout among university students. A cross sectional quantitative design was employed. The sample consisted of 210 university students from different year levels. Most participants reported engaging with nature at least weekly, with a notable proportion indicating contact several times per week. Data were collected using the Nature Related Identity measure, the Brief Psychological Resilience inventory, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Academic Burnout Scale. Analyses were conducted in SPSS 26. Prior to hypothesis testing, the dataset was screened for missing data, outliers, and normality, and reliability indices and descriptive statistics were computed. Pearson correlations were used to examine bivariate associations, followed by mediation analyses to test the proposed indirect effects. Results showed that nature related identity positively predicted psychological resilience (β=0.339). Psychological resilience, in turn, was a strong negative predictor of perceived stress (β=-0.749) and a moderate negative predictor of academic burnout (β=-0.413). Mediation analyses indicated a significant indirect effect of nature related identity on perceived stress through resilience (β=-0.254, 95 percent CI [-0.396, -0.133]). A similarly significant indirect effect was observed for academic burnout (β=-0.140, 95 percent CI [-0.237, -0.062]). Overall, the findings suggest that the potential protective role of nature related identity on student well being operates primarily by strengthening resilience, which then buffers stress and reduces burnout vulnerability.