Coach and Athlete Burnout - West Virginia University

alternatives to participation, dropout victims observe a decrease in investment and
Burnout 89
increase in alternatives, giving them an opportunity to take up a more attractive activity.
In response to the dearth of research on the commitment model of burnout,
Raedeke (1997) examined this perspective in swimmers while incorporating some of the
social aspects of Coakley’s (1992) research. His results indicated those athletes who
exhibited characteristics suggestive of entrapment experienced higher burnout levels. In
particular, four profiles were found to resemble those as denoted by Schmidt and Stein
(1991) and Coakley (1992). Included was enthusiasm, with those demonstrating higher
degrees experiencing lower levels of burnout. In addition, swimmers who were
malcontented and obligated in their participation had higher levels of burnout. Finally,
swimmers who were indifferent about their sport participation exhibited moderate
attraction to swimming and reported few benefits by participating. This was noted to be
similar to the low commitment profile identified by Schmidt and Stein (1991). In
addition, results indicated that low perceived control and high social constraints were
leading sources of entrapment. As the resulting profiles were similar to what was
expected for entrapment, dropout, and attraction profiles, Raedeke (1997) noted the
results of this research suggested a commitment model of burnout is a viable model by
which to increase the understanding of burnout. Raedeke, Granzyk, and Warren (2000)
have also applied a similar commitment model of burnout to coaches. The authors
surveyed 295 USA Swimming coaches on their determinants of commitment, their
experiences of the exhaustive component of burnout, and their actual commitment to
determine if salient profiles could be identified and linked to different levels of burnout
and commitment. Their results yielded three profiles including attraction-based