The Role of Athletic Identity and Passion in Predicting Burnout in Adolescent Female Athletes

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether adolescent athletes' levels of sport burnout would be correlated with, or predicted by, their level and type of passion and the degree to which they identify with the athlete role. Measures for burnout, passion and athletic identity were completed by 218 high school female athletes attending summer camps. Two significant canonical functions explained the relationship of the variables. In the first canonical function, high levels of harmonious passion combined with high levels of social identity were predictive of lower levels of burnout on all three dimensions of burnout. In the second canonical function, high scores on obsessive passion combined with high scores on all three subscales of the AIMS were predictive of higher scores on the exhaustion dimension of burnout but lower levels of sport devaluation. Future directions and limitations of the study are also discussed.

The psychology of passion: A meta-analytical review of a decade of research on intrapersonal outcomes

“…While harmonious passion typically predicts adaptive outcomes (e.g., vitality, life satisfaction), some studies have failed to substantiate these effects (e.g., Mageau et al 2005;Stenseng et al 2011). Moreover, in contrast to the dualistic model, there have been instances in which harmonious passion has had small positive correlations with maladaptive outcomes (e.g., negative affect, exercise dependence; Akehurst and Oliver 2014;Martin and Horn 2013). Equivocal findings have also been documented for obsessive passion.…”

The Effect of Athletic Identity and Locus of Control on the Stress Perceptions of Community College Student-Athletes

“…Contributing to the formulation of an athletic identity were a number of behavioral and social factors. According to Martin (2011), the strength of an individual's athletic identity is largely determined by past and current athletic experiences, as well as relative successes and failures within the athletic domain. In addition, researchers have found that student-athletes with strong athletic identity were more likely to spend a significant amount of their time with coaches, teammates, and other peer athletes, further strengthening their athletic identity (Horton & Mack, 2000).…”

A meta-study of athletic identity research in sport psychology: Current status and future directions

“…For one mixed methods article, the full text was not available. The aim of quantitative studies has been to examine the association between the strength of athletic identity and other variables including adaptation to athletic retirement (e.g., Alfermann, Stambulova, & Zemaityte, 2004), career maturity (e.g., Murphy, Petitpas, & Brewer, 1996), career decision making (e.g., Brown, Glastetter-Fender, & Shelton, 2000), burnout (e.g., E. M. Martin & Horn, 2013), eating disorders (e.g., Voelker, Gould, & Reel, 2014), attitudes towards growing old (e.g., Phoenix, Faulkner, & Sparkes, 2005), drinking behaviors (e.g., Grossbard et al, 2009), injury (e.g., Brewer, Cornelius, Stephan, & Van Athletic retirement Inductive analysis of content and meaning (Patton, 1990;Strauss, 1987;Strauss & Corbin, 1990;Taylor & Bogdan, 1984) In-depth interviews Gearing (1999) Athletic retirement Narrative analysis Biographical interviews Munroe, Albinson, & Hall (1999) The effects of non-selection Abstract and full text N/A Wheeler et al (1999) Athletic retirement in disability sport…”