A Scoping Review of Athlete Burnout Among University Student-Athletes

Participation in intercollegiate sport can foster a range of positive individual outcomes (e.g., growth, resilience development). However, research suggests the multitude of demands intercollegiate athletes need to balance (e.g., academic and sport-specific stressors) can also increase their susceptibility to burnout, which is characterized by reduced personal accomplishment, emotional and physical exhaustion, and a sense of sport devaluation. In this scoping review, we sought to identify with whom and how burnout has been studied, as well as summarize factors that have been found to be associated with burnout. Following a systematic literature search, 29 studies were included in the review, comprising 8,022 intercollegiate athletes (55% female). These studies were predominantly quantitative and cross-sectional (n = 22) in design, conducted in the United States (n = 15), examined participants from multiple sports (n = 25), and grounded in the conceptualization by Raedeke and Smith (2001;n = 24). The range of factors associated with burnout were organized into four categories: demographic influences (e.g., participant sex, academic year), personal characteristics (e.g., perfectionism, grit), psychosocial states (e.g., motivation, emotions), and interpersonal factors (e.g., social support, coach-athlete relationships). Limitations and current gaps in understanding are highlighted, which notably includes a general inability to identify the directionality of effects between burnout and its correlates. Such gaps give way to recommendations for future research in this area of work, such as examining the unique and independent (statistical) contribution of sport-specific stressors versus other types of stressors (e.g., academic, social, financial) to burnout experiences in intercollegiate athletes. Taken together, the findings from this review could help researchers and stakeholders (e.g., applied practitioners, athletics departments) develop interventions that support performance and wellbeing for this population.