The role of parental affection and psychological control in adolescent athletes’ symptoms of school and sport burnout during the transition to upper secondary school

Abstract

Introduction:The transition from compulsory school to upper secondary school is a challenging period for adolescents. Especially challenging it can be for adolescents who aim to integrate two domains of achievement, such as an athletic career and academic education. The pressure from two intertwined achievement domains may make student-athletes vulnerable to symptoms of burnout. The study examined the role of mothers' and fathers' affection and psychological control as possible risk or protective factors in the symptoms of school and sport burnout among 15-16 year olds adolescent athletes in Finland. Methods: The adolescents' (n = 391) burnout symptoms in the two domains were measured using questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the first grade of upper secondary school. Mothers (n = 258) and fathers (n = 191) filled in questionnaires concerning their parenting behaviors at the beginning of the school year.Results & conclusions: The results showed that the athletes' symptoms of both school and sport burnout increased across the school year. Maternal affection buffered against the increase of school burnout, but only when not combined with simultaneous psychologically controlling mothering.

Transformational Parenting Style, Autonomy Support, and their Implications for Adolescent Athletes’ Burnout

“…However, as far as we know, few studies have examined the role of parents' behaviours in the development of adolescents' sport burnout. Recently, Aunola and colleagues (Aunola, Sorkkila, Viljaranta, Tolvanen, & Ryba, 2018) showed that a high level of paternal affection (warm and supportive parenting) was related to a low level of sport burnout. Results also suggested that fathers' parenting behaviours play a more important role than mothers' in student athletes' sport burnout symptoms.…”

“…In relation to adolescents' adaptive outcomes, some authors have pointed out the need to understand the mechanisms that mediate the relationships between parenting styles and adaptive or maladaptive outcomes (Darling & Steinberg, 1993;García et al, 2018;Gracia et al, 2012;Morton et al, 2010). Few studies have examined differences between mothers' and fathers' roles in the athletic development of their children (Aunola et al, 2018;Palomo-Nieto, Ruiz-Pérez, Sánchez-Sánchez, & García-Coll, 2011). Specifically, Harrington (2006) pointed to the importance of better understanding mothers' influence on fathers' and children's leisure interests and pursuits.…”

Supportive Parenting Buffers the Effects of Low Peer Acceptance on Children’s Internalizing Problem Behaviors

“…Fourth, the fathers' sample (n = 281) was relatively small compared to the mothers' sample (n = 432), which may have reduced the statistical power of some of the analyses concerning fathers. Fifth, although it is possible that parental affection and psychological control have also interactive effect on children's developmental outcomes (e.g., Aunola and Nurmi 2004;Aunola et al 2018), in the present study these effects were not empirically tested due to the relatively small sample and other moderator variables. In further studies with larger sample sizes the four-way interaction effects of Affection × Psychological control × Gender × Peer acceptance should also be tested in order to get more deeper and broader insight on the complex interplay of parenting and peer acceptance when predicting children's internalizing problems.…”

“…For example, psychological control has been shown to be related to various forms of internalizing problems among children and adolescents (Barber 1996;Aunola and Nurmi 2005). Previous literature suggests that although parents show a high level of affection and are supportive, if they use psychological control in parenting, high affection and warmth may no longer provide protection problem behaviors (see, e.g., Aunola and Nurmi 2005;Aunola et al 2018). Thus, when considering parents' buffering role against peer problems and other stressors, it might be important to examine not only the role of the positive side of parenting, but also focus on the lack of the negative side of parenting (i.e., psychological control).…”

Escala de Promoción de Desafíos por parte de los padres en deportistas adolescentes de alto rendimiento

“…Diversos estudios muestran que diferentes características del contexto familiar, como el incentivo o el apoyo instrumental y emocional, son fundamentales a la hora de generar experiencias positivas en los niños y adolescentes a través del deporte (Álvarez, Castillo, & Moreno-Pellicer, 2019;Aunola, Sorkkila, Viljaranta, Tolvanen, & Ryba, 2018). Sin embargo, hasta el momento no se ha evaluado la contribución del desafío promovido por los padres en deportistas de alto rendimiento en cuanto a su influencia en una experiencia positiva específica, como es el flow.…”