The association between academic stress, social support, and self-regulatory fatigue among nursing students: a cross-sectional study based on a structural equation modelling approach

BACKGROUND: Emphasizes the state of academic stress, social support, and self-regulatory fatigue on the physical and mental development of Chinese nursing students, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between these variables and the mediating role of social support in academic stress and self-regulatory fatigue among a group of undergraduate nursing students in Heilongjiang Province, China, in order to provide a theoretical basis for working to reduce nursing students’ self-regulatory fatigue. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 1703 nursing students from various academic years completed the scales of social support, academic stress, and self-regulatory fatigue. In the end, there were 797 valid questionnaires, for a recovery rate of 46.80%. For statistical analysis, the independent t-test, Kruskal Wallis test, and Pearson correlation coefficient were used. In addition, we undertake analyses using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: The bulk of nursing students, or 81.4%, are between the ages of 19 and 21. Eighty percent were females. The bulk (93.0%) was comprised of freshmen. Academic stress, social support, and self-regulatory fatigue had total scores of 111.28 ± 29.38, 37.87 ± 6.70, and 45.53 ± 5.55,respectively. Academic stress was correlated with social support and self-regulatory fatigue (all p < 0.001). Social support was an intermediate variable (p < 0.001), with an intermediate effect value of 0.122, representing 32.35% of the total effect. CONCLUSION: Academic pressure is associated with an increase in self-regulatory fatigue, mediated by social support. Educational administrators should pay attention to the social support and resource supplement of nursing students, the adjustment and compensatory development of nursing students’ physical and mental resources, the advancement of nursing students’ internal resource adjustment, and the reduction of their self-regulatory fatigue.