This longitudinal study examined the mediating role of teacher support in the relationship between academic burnout and self-esteem among adolescents in Korea. A total of 154 adolescents (13 years old) were followed up for 4 years at 1-year intervals. Path analysis indicated that the developmental trajectory of academic burnout (i.e. the intercept and slope) leads to a lower level of teacher support (T4) and self-esteem (T4) after controlling for the effect of gender and self-worth. Moreover, teacher support mediated the relationship between development of academic burnout and self-esteem. The rate of change of academic burnout, as well as its initial value, exerted an indirect negative effect on self-esteem through the mediator of teacher support. It has been generally accepted that low self-esteem is the cause of academic burnout. However, our findings indicate that academic burnout might be an influencing factor of self-esteem, implying that the causal relationship between self-esteem and academic burnout should be reconsidered.