Fifteenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

The importance of burnout is especially true for collegiate athletes, as added factors affect their burnout rate and mental health. A student-athlete burnout rate can be affected by their overall well-being and the satisfaction of their perceived social support. Social support can help student-athletes cope with the burnout they may feel due to their sport participation. One such social support factor is the perceived support received by a head coach. Differences in coaching style and socialization of both coach and athlete due to their gender affect both the burnout rate and well-being of collegiate athletes, especially female athletes. Using the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire to measure burnout, the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale to measure well-being, and the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire to measure athlete satisfaction with their coach, college athletes were surveyed. Results demonstrated that female student-athletes with male head coaches had higher overall burnout rates, higher emotional and physical exhaustion, and higher sport devaluation than female athletes with female coaches. Additionally, female student-athletes with a male head coach had lower satisfaction with personal treatment with their coach compared to females with a female coach. Furthermore, male student-athletes had higher feelings of well-being than female student-athletes. These findings indicate that coaches may need to alter coaching style based on the gender of their athletes, particular female athletes, to aid in alleviating burnout, exhaustion and sport devaluation.