A Bio-Physio-Psychological Investigation of Athletes’ Burnout

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Changes in biophysiological markers related to perceived burnout and self-comfort were tested in this study. Method: Forty-two student-athletes from middle and high school grades were evaluated for burnout, salivary cortisol levels, measures of arousal-related physiological markers (i.e., blood volume pulse; BVP), galvanic skin response (GSR), and respiratory rate, and self-comfort variables during the last two weeks of the season. Using self-comfort theory as its conceptual framework, we examined burnout through a conceptual model in which feeling of discomfort with the self was related to biophysiological markers affecting perceived burnout. The proposed model was tested by using a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results: The main findings indicate that increased self-discomfort is significantly (p < .001) associated with increased salivary cortisol (β = – 0.189) along with a significant (p = .050) decrease in GSR (β = – 0.259). Increased salivary cortisol is significantly (p < .001) associated with increased burnout (β = 0.242). Conclusion: The findings partially support the model and encourage further effort to capture the burnout syndrome through the integration of biological and psychological markers.

KEYWORDS:

• Biological arousal
• cortisol
• self-comfort
• young athletes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Suzanne Wilkinson and Dr. Jason Pappas, who kindly supported in data collection.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology [IRB # 2015.16533].