Term of Award

Summer 2018

Degree Name

Master of Science in Kinesiology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Health Sciences and Kinesiology

Committee Chair

Brandonn Harris

Committee Member 1

Jody Langdon

Committee Member 2

Charles Wilson

Abstract

The Aspen Institute’s 2016 State of Play report projects a decline in youth sport participation that is more pronounced in adolescent athletes. Although there are numerous potential benefits for youth sport participation, there are also potential consequences including burnout (chronic psychological syndrome consisting of emotional and physical exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishments, and sport devaluation (Raedeke, 1997). Approximately 1% to 9% of adolescent athletes experienced elevated levels of burnout, with current research suggesting that relatedness could have an influence on athlete burnout. In this instance, relatedness was defined as the extent to which individuals perceives significant others are genuinely invested in them (Markland et al., 2005). The current literature indicates differences in the incidences of burnout based on gender. With regards to adolescents specifically, the relationships with teammates, parents, and coaches might be influential. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of relatedness, athlete gender, and sport type had on athlete burnout. A sample of 105 student-athletes (nmale = 43, nfemale = 62) were recruited from high schools in Southeastern Georgia. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ; Raedeke & Smith, 2001), and an adapted Need for Relatedness Scale (NRS-10; Richer & Vallerand, 1998). Multiple regression analysis revealed in this sample, teammate and coach relatedness predicted sport devaluation and teammate relatedness predicted reduced sense of accomplishment. Further study is needed with a larger sample to determine whether these relationships persist.

INDEX WORDS: Burnout, Adolescent Athletes, Relatedness, Self-Determination Theory, Teammate Relatedness, and Coach Relatedness

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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