<p>A robust negative correlation between academic burnout and depression is well-documented in the literature. However, the underlying mechanisms and contributing factors within this relationship require further elucidation to inform targeted interventions. This study investigates the mediating role of self-compassion and the moderating role of perceived social support in the relationship between academic burnout and depression. A sample of 576 Chinese university students completed validated scales measuring academic burnout, depression, self-compassion, and perceived social support. Analyses confirmed that self-compassion partially mediates the relationship between academic burnout and depression (β = 0.13). Furthermore, this mediating pathway was weaker among participants reporting higher levels of perceived social support, indicating a buffering effect. These findings provide two critical insights for psychological intervention design: First, the mediation pattern reveals that cultivating self-compassion could disrupt academic burnout’s progression to depression. Second, the moderation effect emphasizes that robust social support systems may compensate for compromised self-compassion capacities. The findings emphasize the necessity to investigate conditional mechanisms affecting academic burnout-depression pathways.</p>