Coach and Athlete Burnout - West Virginia University

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autocratic in nature. More important to the proposed research, it was also found that
athletes who reported lower levels of burnout also perceived coaching behaviors to be
more democratic rather than autocratic in nature.
Similarly, research has also examined the role coach leadership behaviors play in
burnout among coaches. Dale and Weinberg (1989) surveyed 302 high school and
collegiate coaches to determine the relationship between leadership style and burnout.
The authors found that coaches exhibiting a consideration style of leadership rather than
an initiating structure style scored higher on the depersonalization and emotional
exhaustion subscales, a result also suggested by more recent research (Price & Weiss,
2000). Those authors found that coaches who scored higher on the emotional exhaustion
subscale were perceived by athletes as using more democratic and less autocratic
decision-making behaviors. Consideration style coaches typically exhibit more of a
friendship, trustworthy, and respectful interactions with their athletes. Dale and
Weinberg (1989) noted this style of leadership is often associated with coaches who are
democratic, oriented in intrapersonal relationships, caring, approachable, and warm. This
disposition may invite them to become emotionally invested in their athletes. This may
relate to an other-oriented approach to coaching, a personality characteristic which has
been linked to burnout (Feigley, 1984; Henschen, 1998).
Other research has demonstrated an opposing relationship between burnout and
leadership. Kelley et al. (1999) found that coaches who reported more consideration
leadership behaviors also reported lower burnout levels. Similar trends have also been
suggested as coaches who scored higher on burnout subscales of depersonalization and
emotional exhaustion have been perceived by their athletes as using more of an autocratic