Social Support, Self-Efficacy, and Resilience as Predictors of Burnout, Smartphone Addiction Proneness, and Perceived Cohesion in Secondary School Students

Background Academic burnout and problematic smartphone use threaten adolescents’ mental health. This study examined how general self-efficacy, resilience, and perceived social support from family and friends predict burnout, smartphone addiction proneness, and classroom cohesion in Vietnamese secondary school students. Methods Data were gathered from 375 secondary school students who completed validated instruments: the General Self-Efficacy Scale, Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (family and friend subscales), Perceived Cohesion Scale, School Burnout Inventory, and Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale. Structural relationships were evaluated with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Results The model explained 19.4% of burnout, 12.0% of smartphone addiction proneness, and 28.4% of classroom cohesion. General self-efficacy predicted higher cohesion (β = 0.211, p < 0.001) and lower smartphone addiction (β = -0.228, p < 0.001) but was unrelated to burnout (β = -0.093, p = 0.176). Resilience paradoxically predicted higher burnout (β = 0.331, p < 0.001), greater smartphone addiction (β = 0.182, p = 0.003), and lower cohesion (β = -0.119, p = 0.020). Social support enhanced self-efficacy (β = 0.387, p < 0.001) and cohesion (β = 0.351, p < 0.001) and reduced burnout (β = -0.127, p = 0.039). Mediation analysis showed social support indirectly reduced smartphone addiction through self-efficacy (β = -0.088, p = 0.001) and resilience (β = -0.052, p = 0.010), and indirectly reduced burnout through resilience (β = -0.094, p = 0.001). Conclusions Social support and self-efficacy foster cohesion and protect against smartphone overuse, whereas resilience may prolong stress exposure and intensify burnout. Interventions should combine resilience training with workload management, peer/family support, and classroom belonging strategies to sustain student well-being.