Areas of Worklife and the Athlete Burnout-Engagement Relationship

Abstract

The global athlete burnout–engagement relationship was investigated using the areas of worklife and relevant conceptual antecedents. Participants were 227 collegiate football players who completed an online survey assessing study variables. Athlete scores on the areas of worklife measure fit the data as expected. Two contrasting mediational models that incorporated the areas of worklife as antecedent to burnout and engagement, respectively, exhibited similar fit. However, Akaike information criterion (AIC) values and other model estimates indicated that these models were not equivalent. The findings suggest that athlete burnout and engagement are strongly and inversely correlated, but may not exist on a conceptual continuum. Further research using the areas of worklife is warranted.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the participating athletes, coaches, and administrators for making this research possible. This research was completed while both authors were at Purdue University. J. D. DeFreese is now with the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Alan L. Smith is now with the Department of Kinesiology at Michigan State University.

Notes

1. Parameter estimates from the ABQ and AEQ confirmatory factor analyses are available from the corresponding author.