The role of athletic identity in the development of athlete burnout: The moderating role of psychological flexibility

Chang, Wen Hsin; Wu, Chia‐Huei; Kuo, Che-Chun; Chen, Lung Hung

doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2018.07.014

Cited by 30 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The person as a whole-and not just the athlete-will be treated with respect to his or her personal history, values, and the role of sport in his or her present and future life. Overall, Greg benefitted from psychological and behavioral flexibility by developing a constructive response to stress (Hayes, 2004), which is supported by recent research (Chang, Wu, Kuo, & Chen, 2018) suggesting that psychological flexibility prevents emotional exhaustion in subjects with high levels of athletic identity.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 54%

Rowing Over the Edge: Nonfunctional Overreaching and Overtraining Syndrome as Maladjustment—Diagnosis and Treatment From a Psychological Perspective

Birrer

2019

Case Studies in Sport and Exercise Psychology

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A rigorous training schedule with insufficient recovery can lead to nonfunctional overreaching (NFOR) or overtraining syndrome (OTS). Research has suggested the multifactorial etiology of these phenomena. Stressors that contribute to and are symptoms and consequences of NFOR and OTS and adjustment disorder are almost identical. In this case study of an elite rower, the author illustrates an intervention approach that can be taken when overtraining is viewed as a sport-specific form of adjustment disorder. The intervention involved treatment that improved the athlete’s awareness of his basic biopsychosocial processes, developed sources of self-worth beyond athletic performance, and challenged his 1-dimensional athletic identity. The intervention included cognitive-behavioral therapy methods (e.g., autogenic training) and mindfulness- and acceptance-based interventions to enhance the athlete’s psychological flexibility. Mood monitoring was used as a diagnostic and evaluative instrument. Intervention effectiveness was evaluated through an in-depth interview with the athlete. The consulting sport psychologist also engaged in reflection about treatment effectiveness and predominant challenges. Challenging the athlete and clarifying his personal values were judged to be very important. Evaluation suggested that viewing NFOR and OTS as forms of adjustment disorder may help us recognize the multifaceted nature of an athlete’s maladjusted state and widen treatment options.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 54%

Rowing Over the Edge: Nonfunctional Overreaching and Overtraining Syndrome as Maladjustment—Diagnosis and Treatment From a Psychological Perspective

Birrer

2019

Case Studies in Sport and Exercise Psychology

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“…As children and adolescents play a particular sport, they develop an identity associated with their role as an athlete, as part of their self-concept (Brewer et al, 1993). However, if this identity is mono-dimensional-focusing only on sport practice and excluding other personal aspects-when sport abandonment occurs, it can lead to the suffering of psychiatric symptoms and burnout, both in young people and in adults (Giannone et al, 2017;Chang et al, 2018;Gustafsson et al, 2018b). As a consequence, especially for children and adolescents, on the one hand, it is essential to develop an identity as an athlete that allows them to feel competent and autonomous and maintain positive relationships with their peers; on the other hand, to prevent negative consequences in case of sport abandonment (either relative or definitive), such an identity should not be mono-dimensional, being preferably focused on their overall development as athletes rather than exclusively linked to their competence in a specific sport (Coakley, 1992).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Former Road Cyclists Still Involved in Cycling Report Lower Burnout Levels Than Those Who Abandoned This Sport

et al. 2020

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Despite the numerous benefits associated with sport practice, many children and adolescents end up quitting it year after year, with a stable dropout rate between 10 and 19 years of age. Among the causes of sport abandonment, the scientific literature highlights the presence of burnout as a fundamental factor. In this regard, the aim of the present study was to investigate the levels of the three components of sport burnout-emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishment, and sport devaluation-reported by a sample of young (former) athletes, depending on whether their sport abandonment was relative (i.e., change to another sport modality) or definitive. In particular, participants were former agonist road cyclists, who have been divided into three groups on the basis of what they did after abandoning road bicycle racing, namely: (a) those still involved in cycling, either in a different specialty (e.g., mountain bike) or with a different role (e.g., coach for kids); (b) those who started practicing a different sport; and (c) those who definitively abandoned sports. The general hypothesis was that, with respect to those who changed sport and those who definitively abandoned it, those still involved in cycling would report experiencing lower levels of the three burnout components during the last year practicing it. To test this hypothesis, the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ; Raedeke and Smith, 2001) was administered to 85 young former road cyclists. The results seem to support the hypothesis for two out of the three components, namely, emotional and physical exhaustion and sport devaluation; on the other hand, for reduced sense of accomplishment, no difference among the three groups emerged. Further research is needed to deepen the understanding of such processes, also in relation with other relevant constructs; yet, the results of the present study should already raise the awareness of sport organizations on the need to deal with this and related phenomena by adopting appropriate strategies to ensure the well-being of young athletes, thus trying to reduce early dropout.

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“…Past research adopting the Smith (1986) burnout model generally supported the link between stress and athletic burnout (Tabei et al, 2012;Chyi et al, 2017;Chang et al, 2018). It is imperative to understand the moderators/mediators underlying the stress-burnout relationship so that practitioners can use this knowledge to help athletes avoid burnout .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, under high life stress conditions, athletes with high resilience and coaches' high tangible social support were less susceptible to burnout than those with high resilience but low coaches' tangible social support. Recently, Chang et al (2018) used a twowave, time-lagged survey to examine the moderating effects of psychological flexibility on the athletic identity-burnout relationship. They found that high athletic identity athletes with low psychological flexibility developed emotional exhaustion (one factor of burnout) over time, but high athletic identity with high psychological flexibility was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, as the world entered a new millennium, psychologists turned their focus away from treating mental illness to building strengths and virtues (Seligman, 2002). Many positive strengths, such as gratitude (e.g., Chang et al, 2018;Gabana et al, 2019), resilience (e.g., Lu et al, 2016;Hill et al, 2018), mindfulness training (Jouper and Gustafsson, 2013), intrinsic motivation (Cresswell and Eklund, 2006;Li et al, 2013), harmonious passion (Gustafsson et al, 2011), forgiveness (e.g., Watson et al, 2017;Akhtar and Barlow, 2018), and altruism (e.g., Feigin et al, 2018) have been examined by researchers in sports as well as in many domains. Therefore, sports researchers should continue to seek positive strengths/merits that may moderate the athletes' stressburnout relationship.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seeking Positive Strengths in Buffering Athletes’ Life Stress–Burnout Relationship: The Moderating Roles of Athletic Mental Energy

et al. 2020

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In search of positive strengths that bolster athletes' reaction to stress, the purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effects of athletic mental energy on the athletes' life stress-burnout relationship. This study recruited two samples (Study 1 = 230; Study 2 = 159) and administered the College Student-Athlete's Life Stress Scale (CSALSS; Lu et al., 2012), Athletic Mental Energy Scale (AMES; Lu et al., 2018), and Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ; Raedeke and Smith, 2001). Two separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that the emotional and cognitive components of athletic mental energy moderated the athletes' life stress-burnout relationship across the two studies. Results provided the initial evidence that athletic mental energy can be positive strengths in buffering the stress-burnout relationship. Theoretical implications, limitations, practical applications, and future research directions are discussed.

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The role of athletic identity in the development of athlete burnout: The moderating role of psychological flexibility

Cited by 30 publications

References 40 publications

Rowing Over the Edge: Nonfunctional Overreaching and Overtraining Syndrome as Maladjustment—Diagnosis and Treatment From a Psychological Perspective

Rowing Over the Edge: Nonfunctional Overreaching and Overtraining Syndrome as Maladjustment—Diagnosis and Treatment From a Psychological Perspective

Former Road Cyclists Still Involved in Cycling Report Lower Burnout Levels Than Those Who Abandoned This Sport

Seeking Positive Strengths in Buffering Athletes’ Life Stress–Burnout Relationship: The Moderating Roles of Athletic Mental Energy

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