| The purpose of this correlational study was to investigate relationships among the dimensions of athlete burnout (i.e., physical/emotional exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishment, and devaluation) and the quality of self-determined motivation (i.e., intrinsic motivation, integrated regulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation) in college athletes.;Since it is typical for athletes experiencing burnout to demonstrate losses in motivation, a motivational explanation of athlete burnout seems fitting, particularly given evidence indicating that the inability to satisfy the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness result in ill-being across a variety of non-sport contexts. A shift from a self-determined involvement in a sport to an association that is characterized by little to no motivation and/or external motivation is a central theme among burned out athletes. Five hundred and ninety eight (N = 598) male and female student-athletes from eight National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and Division III, west coast universities in the United States participated in the study.;The study used hierarchical multiple regression analysis to explain the extent to which selected demographic variables, college experiential variables, and motivational variables predict dimensions of athlete burnout.;Results of the regression analyses indicate that motivational variables significantly predict student-athletes' Athlete Burnout scale scores as hypothesized. Indeed, 47% of the variance in Devaluation was explained by the predictor variables, while 30.6% of the variance in Reduced Sense of Accomplishment, along with 26.7% of the variance in Physical/Emotional Exhaustion, was accounted for by the model.;This study supports the utility of a self-determination theory explanation for the occurrence of burnout in competitive athletes. Specifically, the findings highlight the need to clearly evaluate distinctions among extrinsic motivational types relative to burnout. It appears that actions characterized by autonomous external regulation (i.e., Integrated and Identified Regulation) share many qualities with intrinsic motivation, including a negative association with athlete burnout symptoms. Thus, athletes who internalize and integrate an external regulation can still be committed and authentic. In contrast, the inability to grasp meaning and assimilate that meaning with respect to other values can be a source of distress that can prompt the expression of burnout symptoms and ultimately determine sport persistence. |
