Background/Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship among perceived stress, burnout and depression in a sample of athletes. It was hypothesized that stress is an antecedent of burnout and depression a possible consequence of both stress and burnout. Method: A sample of 453 athletes participated in the study. Stress and depression were measured with Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and athlete burnout with Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). Data analysis was conducted under the approach of structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: The direct effects of stress on burnout and depression were .66 and .24, respectively, and the direct effect of burnout on depression .53, all of them significant (p<.001). Stress accounted for 43% of the variance of burnout, and jointly stress and burnout for 50% of the variance of depression. Indexes of overall model fit were: χ 2 (224)= 520.881 (p < .001), χ 2 /df = 2.32, Goodness of fit index (GFI) = .91, Comparative fit index (CFI) = .89, Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .054 (90% confidence interval, .048-.060), and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) = .063. Conclusions: This study provides evidence of the relationship among stress, burnout and depression in an only model.

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 aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of exercise dependence and athlete burnout and their relationship between them and among demographic and sport characteristics in 449 athletes, 320 males and 129 females (Age: M= 19.71, SD= 6.62). All of them replied the Spanish versions of Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised (EDS-R) and reduced version of Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). The results showed a risk of exercise dependence in 8.7% of the athletes, with statistically significant differences in age (a greater exercise dependence was found in athletes under the age of 18 years old), not in gender, sport dedication and type of sport. Regarding burnout, measured through its three dimensions, the data showed 4% for emotional/physical exhaustion (EFE) and 4.9% for sport devaluation (SD) and reduced sense of accomplishment (RSA). Men and team-sport athletes showed a greater RSA. Men and athletes over the age of 18 also showed more DS. As for sport dedication, participants who spent less time training had higher levels of RSA, whereas those who dedicated more time, had higher levels of EFE. Finally, the relationship between exercise dependence and burnout showed that all dimensions of burnout correlated positively with exercise dependence.