Controlling Coaching Behaviors and Athlete Burnout: Investigating the Mediating Roles of Perfectionism and Motivation

Abstract

This investigation sought to replicate and extend earlier studies of athlete burnout by examining athlete-perceived controlling coaching behaviors and athlete perfectionism variables as, respectively, environmental and dispositional antecedents of athlete motivation and burnout. Data obtained from NCAA Division I swimmers (n = 487) within 3 weeks of conference championship meets were analyzed for this report. Significant indirect effects were observed between controlling coaching behaviors and burnout through athlete perfectionism (i.e., socially prescribed, self-oriented) and motivation (i.e., autonomous, amotivation). Controlling coaching behaviors predicted athlete perfectionism. In turn, self-oriented perfectionism was positively associated with autonomous motivation and negatively associated with amotivation, while socially prescribed perfectionism was negatively associated with autonomous motivation and positively associated with controlled motivation and amotivation. Autonomous motivation and amotivation, in turn, predicted athlete burnout in expected directions. These findings implicate controlling coaching behaviors as potentially contributing to athlete perfectionism, shaping athlete motivational regulations, and possibly increasing athlete burnout.

Perfectionism in Sport, Dance, and Exercise

“…In addition, there were six published (or soon to be published) studies examining multidimensional perfectionism in sport, dance, and exercise that we were aware of but were not retrieved from the electronic search (Gustafsson, Hill, Stenling, & Wagnsson, in press;Jowett, Hill, Hall, & Curran, 2016;Lizmore, Dunn, & Causgrove-Dunn, 2016;Madigan, Stoeber, & Passfield, 2015, 2016b press-b) giving us a total of 15 studies. After excluding four further studies-three studies that did not report bivariate correlations (Barcza-Renner et al, 2016;Bennett et al, 2016;Oliveira et al, 2015) and one that reported correlations only for total perfectionism (Neves et al, 2016)-we Chapter 11 (Hill et al) -11 arrived at a final number of 11 studies examining multidimensional perfectionism in sport, dance, and exercise that were not included in the previous review (Jowett, Mallinson, & Hill, 2016). Table 1 shows the independent effects analyses for these 11 studies.…”

“…which left us with nine studies(Barcza-Renner, Eklund, Morin, Habeeb, & Morin, 2016;Bennett, Rotherham, Hays, Olusoga, & Maynard, 2016;Cheng & Hardy, 2016;Costa, Coppolino, & Oliva, 2016;Hill, Robson, & Stamp, 2015; Neves, Meireles, Carvalho, Ameida, & Ferreira, 2016; Madigan, Stoeber, & Passfield, 2016a, in press-a; …”

Controlling coaching and athlete thriving in elite adolescent netballers: The buffering effect of athletes’ mental toughness

“…Referred to as a controlling motivational style, social agents can thwart the three psychological needs through the controlling use of rewards (i.e., extrinsic rewards and praise), conditional regard (i.e., withhold attention and support), intimidation (i.e., power assertive strategies to humiliate), and excessive personal control (i.e., intrusive monitoring and excessive or strict boundaries) [11]. Coach controlling motivational styles have been linked with a range of maladaptive outcomes including increased burnout [12] and stress [13]. These findings underscore the potentially stressful nature of controlling motivational styles within sporting contexts.…”

Athlete burnout: review and recommendations

“…Specifically, social support and high quality coach-athlete relationships have been shown to be negatively associated with burnout [34**, 35]. Whereas markers of perceived negative social interactions, including peer conflict [36], and controlling behaviors from coaches [37] have been shown to be positively associated with burnout. Much of this work has been crosssectional, yet, a recent study found support for these associations using a longitudinal study design (i.e., four in-season time points) in a sample of American collegiate swimming and track and field athletes [38**].…”