Coach and Athlete Burnout - West Virginia University

Burnout 9
study did not include a sport-specific instrument to assess coach burnout. Like that of
Vealey et al. (1998), their sample size of coaches was also limited (n=15). Future
research that attempts to identify the relationship between the perception of decision-
making behaviors utilized by coaches and athlete and coach burnout should consider
employing the use of sport-specific measures to assess burnout and leadership behaviors
as well al utilizing an adequate sample size of each population.
Study Purposes, Hypotheses, and Significance
The present research examined the relationship between perceived coaches’
decision-making style and athletes’ and coaches’ burnout levels in the competitive sport
of collegiate swimming. Secondary purposes included assessing gender differences
within the coach and athlete populations, as well as the interaction between decision-
making style and gender on burnout dimensions. Swimmers are a likely sample to
experience burnout due to the high intensity and increasing training conditions of
practices. Further, the rigorous training that swimmers endure during both the
competitive and off-season make the sport’s athletes and coaches more susceptible to
experiencing burnout and therefore a good population to sample from. Athletes
responding negatively to this type of training stress may be likely to experience burnout
(Silva, 1990).
It is hypothesized that as athletes perceive their coach’s decision-making style to
be more autocratic in nature their own reported levels of burnout will increase. This
would be indicated by higher scores on the physical/emotional exhaustion sport
devaluation, and reduced personal accomplishment subscales on a burnout inventory.
Further, as athletes perceive their coach’s decision-making style to be democratic their