An Examination of the Relationship between Competitive Trait Anxiety and Athlete Burnout

Boran, Colm (2018) An Examination of the Relationship between Competitive Trait Anxiety and Athlete Burnout. Undergraduate thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Aims: The current research study sought to investigate the relationship between competitive trait anxiety and athlete burnout while controlling for gender, age, and sport type. The relationships between gender, age, sport type and burnout were also investigated. Gender differences in burnout levels were examined, as well as sport type (team vs individual) differences.

Method: The sample consisted of 41 females and 97 males (N = 138). Age ranged from 18 to 60, mean age (M) = 32.5 and standard deviation (SD) = 12.05. A convenient snowball sampling technique was used to gather participants. Competitive trait anxiety was measured using the Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2). Athlete burnout was measured using the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). Age, gender, and sport type were included in a general demographics questionnaire.

Results: A significant, moderate, positive relationship was found between competitive trait anxiety and athlete burnout (r = .40, p < .001). Only anxiety was displayed unique predictive power of burnout to a significant level (β = .41, p < .001). No significant differences between male (M = 38.04, SD = 7.50) and female (M = 37.95, SD = 10.03) burnout scores was found. Team (M = 38.01, SD = 8.44) and individual (M = 38.02, SD = 7.98) sports also showed no significant difference in burnout scores. Further analyses were conducted to investigate sub-factors within anxiety and burnout.

Conclusion: Employing traditional methods (e.g., goal-setting, visualisation) in sport psychology may be successful in reducing anxiety. However, mindfulness and cognitive-behavioural therapies present more empirically based methods for lowering competitive anxiety and athlete burnout levels.

Item Type:	Thesis (Undergraduate)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology
Divisions:	School of Business > BA (Honours) in Psychology
Depositing User:	Caoimhe Ní Mhaicín
Date Deposited:	22 Oct 2018 14:16
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2018 14:16
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/3274

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