Code for: Athlete Burnout and Health: Testing Longitudinal Mediation via Biomarkers

Abstract (prior to peer review): Athletes often face pressure in competitive sports, which can cause physical and mental health problems including athlete burnout. Burnout is becoming increasingly prevalent in athletes and not only affects mental health but heightens the risk for further physical and mental health consequences. While studies have supported this link, few of these examinations have assessed the possible explanatory mechanisms. Therefore, this study aimed to test whether biomarkers of key physiological systems may mediate the relationship between athlete burnout and mental and physical health outcomes over time. We recruited 64 competitive athletes who completed measures of athlete burnout, physical symptoms, depressive symptoms, and insomnia as well as provided saliva samples for the analysis of biomarkers (testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate [DHEA-S], secretory Immunoglobulin A [sIgA]) at three timepoints over six months. At the between level, burnout was associated with all questionnaire measures, while testosterone was associated with physical symptoms. At the within level, burnout predicted depressive symptoms and sIgA predicted insomnia. Exploratory analyses with a Bayesian approach further showed burnout to predict reductions in testosterone, DHEA-S and sIgA. In contrast to our hypotheses, we found no indirect effects linking burnout with potential health consequences via changes in biomarkers. Thus, burnout appears to affect physical and mental health through predominantly direct links. This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council for Sport Science (P2023-0139). notReviewed unknown

（同行评审前）摘要：运动员在竞技体育中常承受压力，这可能引发包括运动员倦怠（athlete burnout）在内的身心健康问题。当前运动员倦怠的患病率日益升高，不仅会损害心理健康，还会进一步提升身心健康出现不良后果的风险。尽管已有研究证实了这一关联，但此类探讨极少评估过其潜在解释机制。为此，本研究旨在验证关键生理系统的生物标志物（biomarkers）是否会在纵向层面中介运动员倦怠与身心健康结局之间的关系。本研究招募了64名竞技运动员，让其在为期6个月的3个时间点完成运动员倦怠、躯体症状、抑郁症状与失眠相关量表评定，并提供唾液样本以分析生物标志物：睾酮（testosterone）、脱氢表雄酮硫酸盐（DHEA-S）以及分泌型免疫球蛋白A（sIgA）。在组间水平上，运动员倦怠与所有问卷测评结果均存在关联，而睾酮与躯体症状存在关联。在组内水平上，运动员倦怠可预测抑郁症状，分泌型免疫球蛋白A可预测失眠。采用贝叶斯方法开展的探索性分析进一步显示，运动员倦怠可预测睾酮、脱氢表雄酮硫酸盐以及分泌型免疫球蛋白A水平的下降。与研究假设相悖的是，本研究未发现通过生物标志物变化将运动员倦怠与潜在健康结局关联起来的间接效应。由此可见，运动员倦怠对身心健康的影响主要通过直接通路实现。本研究得到瑞典体育科学研究理事会（P2023-0139）资助。未评审 未知