Heterogeneity in academic burnout and its association with professional identity among undergraduate nursing students: a latent profile analysis

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Objectives: To identify latent profiles of academic burnout among undergraduate nursing students and examine the demographic, academic, and professional-identity differences across these profiles. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from October to December 2025 among 741 undergraduate nursing students from four universities in Anhui Province, China. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the Learning Burnout of University Students scale, and the Professional Identity Scale. Latent profile analysis was performed using the 20 academic-burnout items as manifest indicators. Model selection was based on information criteria, entropy, likelihood-ratio tests, profile size, posterior classification probabilities, parsimony, and interpretability. Chi-square tests and one-way analysis of variance were used for descriptive profile comparisons. To complement statistical screening with conceptual considerations, factors associated with profile membership were examined using an exploratory multinomial logistic regression model informed by a conceptual framework based on directed acyclic graph principles. Results: = 228, 30.77%). The three profiles mainly represented a low-to-high severity gradient rather than qualitatively distinct burnout patterns. Compared with the low-burnout profile, students with poorer academic performance were more likely to be assigned to the moderate- or high-burnout profiles. Sophomore students had higher odds of being in the high-burnout profile than senior students, whereas confidence in employment prospects was associated with lower odds of high burnout. Professional identity scores decreased progressively from the low- to the high-burnout profile, with statistically significant differences across all pairwise comparisons. Conclusion: Academic burnout among undergraduate nursing students is heterogeneous, and approximately one-third of students were classified into a high-burnout profile. Professional identity showed a clear inverse gradient across burnout profiles. In the conceptual-framework-informed exploratory regression model, academic performance, grade level, only-child status, reasons for choosing nursing, and perceived employment prospects were associated with profile membership. Because of the cross-sectional design, possible residual confounding, and classification uncertainty, these associations should not be interpreted as causal. Nursing educators and public health education administrators should consider profile-specific strategies that combine academic support, career guidance, psychological support, and professional identity development.

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