The first aim of the present study is to develop measurement tools that can be used to determine the functional and dysfunctional attitudes of parents toward the academic life of their high school students. The second aim of this study is to examine the mediating roles of conditional performance related to reward expectation and fear of being punished in the relationship between functional/dysfunctional parental attitudes and burnout due to parents.

Parental attitudes are one of the most important factors that leave traces of different dimensions and depths in the lives of individuals. There are studies in the literature that draw attention to the functional/non-functional effects of parental attitudes on children's academic lives (Erdoğdu, 2007; Gündüz & Özyürek, 2018; Güleç, 2020; Özyürek & Özkan, 2015). Among the dysfunctional consequences of parental attitudes, school burnout syndrome has special importance that should be emphasized.

School burnout is a syndrome experienced by students as a result of difficult and prolonged excessive demands associated with school (Aypay, 2011; Bask & Salmela-Aro, 2012). Especially in recent years, it has been reported that high school students are faced with an increasing burnout syndrome (Walburg, 2014). One of the main factors leading to school burnout syndrome, which may threaten students' psychological health and academic development, is parents' attitudes towards the academic context (excessive pressure, dissatisfaction with the effort made, and not appreciating the work, etc.) (Aypay, 2011, 2012).

The school burnout literature indicates that students' levels of reward addiction and punishment sensitivity in the academic context are variables that predict burnout syndrome. As the levels of reward addiction and sensitivity to punishment increase, the levels of school burnout also increase (Aypay, 2015, 2017, 2016c, 2018a, and b). In an academic context, reward addiction is defined as the situation in which students' moods and behaviors begin to be controlled by rewards (Aypay, 2016b); Sensitivity to punishment in an academic context is defined as a state of hypersensitivity arising from fear and anxiety to punishment and punishment stimuli, and the negative reactivity caused by this (Aypay, 2015). Research findings have shown that parenting styles are associated with reward addiction and sensitivity to punishment in the academic context (Aypay, 2016a; 2019).

In the studies summarized, the relations of these variables with each other were studied in macro dimensions. This study has tried to determine how these variables are related to each other at micro levels. For this purpose, parental attitudes, one of the variables of this study, were examined by reducing them to the academic context. “Burnout due to family”, is one of the dimensions of school burnout; “Conditional performance related to reward expectation”, is the most typical dimension of reward addiction in an academic context; “Fear of Punishment”, is the most typical dimension of sensitivity to punishment in the academic context, constitutes the other variables of this research.

This study was conducted in a relational screening model. The sample consisted of 462 students (261 girls and 201 boys) aged between 15 and 17, continuing their education in high school. In this study, 5 scales were used as data collection tools: Parents' Functional Attitudes in Academic Context Scale for High School Students; Parents' Dysfunctional Attitudes in Academic Context Scale for High School Students; Secondary School Burnout Scale; Scale of Punishment Sensitivity in Academic Context for High School Students; Scale of Reward Addiction in Academic Context for High School Students. Parents' Functional/Dysfunctional Attitude Scales were developed within the scope of this research. To create the item pools of the scales, 25 high school students for each scale were asked to share their parents' positive/functional or negative/dysfunctional attitudes in the context of their academic life in writing or by interview. Forms with 14 items for functional parents' attitudes and 12 for dysfunctional attitudes were created. In addition, two experts were consulted to evaluate the items in terms of their suitability for the purpose. Afterward, a pilot application was conducted in a group of 30 students to test the intelligibility of the scale items in both scale forms. The construct validity of the scales of functional/dysfunctional parents' attitudes was tested with Explanatory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. These analyzes were performed on two separate data sets. EFA for both scales was performed separately for both mother and father forms. In both scales, the same factor structures consisting of the same items were obtained in the EFAs performed for both the mother and father forms. In addition, mediating role of fear of punishment and conditioned performance related to reward expectation in the relationship between burnout due to family and parents' functional and dysfunctional attitudes in the academic context were examined.

As a result of the EFA for functional attitudes scales, one factor explaining 45% of the total variance for the mother form and 49% for the father form with an eigenvalue of 1 or higher was revealed. The mother and father forms of the parent functional attitude scales consist of the same ten items. McDonald's ω reliability coefficients are .85 for the mother form and .88 for the father form. Fit Parameters related to the CFA Model of parents’ functional attitudes scales are as follows for the mother and father forms, respectively: [χ2=58.27, df=35, p<.01, χ2/df=1.66, RMSEA=0.067, CFI=0.95, NNFI=0.93, NFI=0.90, IFI=0.95, GFI=0.93, AGFI=0.89, SRMR=0.05] [χ2=54.02, df=35, p<.01, χ2/df=1.54, RMSEA=0.060, CFI=0.97, NNFI=0.97, IFI=0.97, GFI=0.93, AGFI=0.89, NFI=0.92, SRMR=0.04] . As a result of the EFA for dysfunctional attitudes scales, two factors explaining 50% of the total variance for the mother form and 48% for the father form with an eigenvalue of 1 or higher were revealed. The mother and father forms of the parent functional attitude scales consist of the same nine items. The two factors are discouraging and demoralizing intervention; study pressure and high expectation. McDonald's ω reliability coefficients are .82-.77 for the mother form and .81-.80 for the father form. Fit Parameters related to the CFA Model of parents’ dysfunctional attitudes scales are as follows for the mother and father forms, respectively: [χ2=49.28, df=26, p<.01, χ2/df=1.089 RMSEA=0.078, CFI=0.94, NNFI=0.92, IFI=0.94, GFI=0.93, AGFI=0.89, SRMR=0.06] [χ2=36.53, df=26, p<.01, χ2/df=1.405 RMSEA=0.052, CFI=0.98, NNFI=0.97, IFI=0.98, GFI=0.95, AGFI=0.91, SRMR=0.05] Structural model results showed that conditional performance related to reward expectation and fear of punishment have a mediator role in the relationship between parents' dysfunctional attitude towards the academic context and burnout due to family. Parents' dysfunctional attitudes dimension of study pressure and high expectation and parents' functional attitude directly predict burnout due to family.