The effect of self-regulation on burnout in athletes and the mediation of sport engagement and self-confidence: A structural equation modeling study

Because burnout in athletes has negative consequences such as stress, depression, and even leaving the profession, studies aimed at identifying the factors that effectively reduce this risk tend to increase. On the other hand, it has been reported that athletes' self-regulation skills, sports commitment and sports self-confidence may be effective in reducing their burnout. From this point of view, the aim was to examine both the mediation of self-confidence and sport commitment in the effect of self-regulation on burnout in athletes and to compare these variables according to some socio-demographic factors. The participants of the study, which was conducted with a correlational cross-sectional survey design, were 303 students of the Faculty of Sports Science. The Sportive Self-Regulation Scale (SSRS) was used to measure self-regulation, the Sport Engagement Scale (SES) to measure sport engagement, the Trait Sport-Confidence Inventory (TSCI) to measure sport confidence, and the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) to measure burnout. Results indicate that there are significant relationships between SSRS, SES, TSCI, and ABQ in student athletes. While sport age was positively associated with SSRS and SES, chronological age was not associated with any variable. When measures were compared by gender and type of sport, females and single sport participants had lower TSCI means. While SSRS means did not differ by grade level, SES and TSCI means were lower for 4th graders than for 2nd graders, and ABQ means were higher than for the other three grades. Mediation results indicate that SSRS predicts SES and TSCI, SES has no mediating role because it does not predict ABQ, TSCI predicts ABQ, and SSRS is a full mediator in its effect on ABQ.