Prevalence of Burnout in Competitive Adolescent Athletes
Click name to view affiliation
Search for other papers by Henrik Gustafsson in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Göran Kenttä in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Peter Hassmén in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Carolina Lundqvist in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This study examined the factorial validity of the Eades Burnout Inventory (EABI) and the prevalence of burnout in adolescent elite athletes and whether burnout is more common in individual sports than in team sports. The EABI was distributed to 980 athletes (402 females and 578 males) in 29 different sports. Confirmatory-factor analyses revealed an acceptable factorial validity for a theoretically supported four-factor model of the EABI. Between 1% and 9% of the athletes displayed elevated burnout scores on these four subscales. The hypothesis of higher prevalence of burnout in individual sports was, however, not supported. Furthermore, no correlation between training load and burnout scores was found. These findings suggest that factors other than training load must be considered when athletes at risk for burnout are investigated.
Gustafsson is with the Dept. of Health Sciences, Örebro University, Orebro, Sweden. Kenttä and Lundqvist are with the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden. Hassmén is with the Dept. of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
© 2023 Human Kinetics