Miedo al Covid, agotamiento y cinismo: su efecto en la intención de abandono universitario

The Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly affected the education sector; its possible consequences include the development of burnout and the intention to dropout. Thus, the objective of this research was to determine if, in Mexican university students, fear of Covid-19, emotional exhaustion and cynicism are antecedents of the intention to drop out of school. A quantitative, empirical, non-experimental and cross-sectional investigation was carried out on 478 students during the Covid-19 pandemic. The analysis technique was a model of Structural Equations with Partial Least Squares [PLS-SEM]. The evidence indicates that the fear of Covid-19 directly and indirectly affects the intention to dropout, through emotional exhaustion and cynicism. The limitations of the study imply the use of a non-probability sampling. The value of the research lies in the contribution to the understanding of the effects of the fear of contracting the disease on the intention to abandon university studies. It is concluded that the fear of Covid-19, cynicism and exhaustion directly and indirectly influence the intention to abandon school.