The purpose of the present research was to analyze the mediating role of motivational regulation between the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and burnout and engagement in athletes. From different sports 1011 young Spanish athletes participated in the study. Participants completed several measurement instruments concerning: the Basic Needs Satisfaction in Sport Scale, Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire, Athlete Burnout Questionnaire and Athlete Engagement Questionnaire. The results of structural equation modeling showed that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs has direct effects on burnout and engagement: a negative effect on athlete burnout (–0.49, p < 0.001) and a positive effect on engagement (0.54, p < 0.001). In addition, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs has a partial indirect effect over these variables in the same direction mediated by the self-determined degree of motivation. Thus, low levels of self-regulated motivation are positively related to burnout, but high levels of self-determined motivation are not. The same was observed with engagement, but vice versa: high levels of self-determined motivation are positively related to athlete engagement, but low levels of self-determined motivation are not. The proposed model explained 37% of the variance of burnout and 51% of the variance of engagement.

The purpose of our research was to analyze the relationship among motivation, burnout, and engagement in sports. Five hundred athletes of both sexes from multiple sports modalities took part, with a mean age of 17.39 years (SD = 4.60). The instruments applied were as follows: Spanish versions of the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS), the Athlete Engagement Questionnaire (AEQ) and the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). Pearson correlations showed that motivation is negatively related to burnout and positively to engagement, while burnout and engagement are inversely related to each other. Through structural equation modeling, it was shown that engagement has a mediating role between motivation and burnout. Furthermore, there are no gender differences in this relationship, although there are differences between athletes who practice individual sports and those who practice collective sports. Encouraging high levels of self-determined motivation can help to increase athletes’ degree of engagement and protect them against burnout and sport withdrawal.

In this paper, we offer a general version of the Spanish adaptation of Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) designed to measure the syndrome of burnout in athletes of different sports. In previous works, the Spanish version of ABQ was administered to different samples of soccer players. Its psychometric properties were appropriate and similar to the findings in original ABQ. The purpose of this study was to examine the generalization to others sports of the Spanish adaptation. We started from this adaptation, but we included three alternative statements (one for each dimension of the questionnaire), and we replaced the word “soccer” with the word “sport”. An 18-item version was administered to a sample of 487 athletes aged 13 and 29 years old. Confirmatory factor analyses replicated the factor structure, but two items modification were necessary in order to obtain a good overall fit of the model. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the questionnaire were satisfactory.

The results of a longitudinal study on the cognitive development of one group of full-term and three groups of low risk preterm children with different gestational ages (GA) are presented. The 181 participants were divided into four GA groups of similar size. The aims were: 1) To check if there are differences in cognitive development (measured through the Batelle scale) among the GA groups. 2) To establish the predictive factors of cognitive development at 22 and 60 months of age, taking into account biomedical, environmental and individual factors. The results of the repeated measures ANOVA performed at 22 and 60 months of age indicated that the cognitive trajectories of the four GA groups were similar. Linear regression analyses showed that the effect of the different predictors changed in relation to the time of measurement of cognitive development. Biological factors and the quality of home environment had a moderate effect on the cognitive development at 22 months of age. Cognitive results obtained at 22 months of age, and, to a lesser extent, working memory had the greatest effect on cognitive development at 60 months. GA does not predict cognitive development. Preterm children do not show cognitive delay if they are healthy.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship among basic psychological needs and burnout in a sample of athletes (N = 639). It was hypothesized that psychological needs satisfaction was negatively associated with burnout syndrome and the frustration of these needs related positively. Burnout was measured with the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ), satisfaction of basic psychological needs with the Basic Needs Satisfaction in Sport Scale (BNSSS), and frustration with the Psychological Needs Thwarting Scale (PNTS). Data analysis was conducted under the approach of structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that satisfaction of basic psychological needs had a negative direct effect on burnout of −0.67 (p < 0.001) while the frustration of these needs had a direct effect of 0.18 (p < 0.001). In addition, the total model explained 59% of the total variance of burnout. All individual parameters of the model were statistically significant and the overall fit of the model was satisfactory. It can be concluded that satisfying the basic psychological needs of the athletes can protect them against burnout.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a great emotional impact on the general population, with specific consequences in the field of sport and physical activity. The present study was conducted to meet two objectives: (1) to investigate if the pandemic had an impact on competitive anxiety and if the sex and competitive level played a mediating role, and (2) to investigate if the relationship between emotional self-control and anxiety was affected by the pandemic. An amount of 608 Spanish athletes participated, divided into two cohorts, before and after the pandemic. Measurements of competitive anxiety and emotional self-control were made at both time points, which were processed by combining analysis of variance and regression models. Differences were found in competitive anxiety before and after COVID-19, with athlete’s competitive level acting as a mediating variable. For high-level athletes, there was an increase in anxiety, while for lower-level athletes, there was a decrease in anxiety. The pandemic seems to have led to higher levels of anxiety in elite athletes, compared to amateur athletes. There was no interaction between the sex of the participants and the cohort. Emotional self-control remained a significant predictor of low competitive anxiety levels.