Psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) in a sample of young and adult athletes

Abstract Aims: This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). Methods: Participants were five hundred and nineteen young and adult athletes who responded to the ABQ and Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2R. Data analysis was conducted through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Cronbach’s alpha, Composite reliability, average variance extracted, multigroup analysis, and Pearson’s correlation (p<0.05). Results: The results of the CFA confirmed the structure with three dimensions (Physical and emotional exhaustion (PEE), reduced sense of sports accomplishment (RSSA), and sports devaluation (SD) [χ²/gl=2.92; CFI=.92; TLI=.91; RMSEA=.06]. Internal consistency was satisfactory (>.70). External validity revealed a positive correlation between PEE (r=.14) and RSSA (r=.23) with somatic anxiety and a positive correlation of PEE (r=.15), RSSA (r=.30), and SD (r=.14) with cognitive anxiety. Further, all dimensions of burnout had negative correlations with the self-confidence (r=.17-.23). In the factor invariance analysis, satisfactory data were found in the model’s fit, establishing good factor loadings, variance/covariance, and residuals in both age groups (up to 18 years and over 18 years) and genders (men and women). Conclusion: It was concluded that the Brazilian version of the ABQ is satisfactory for the application of possible studies involving burnout syndrome in the Brazilian sports context in different group extracts.