Graduate Research Papers

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Open Access Graduate Research Paper

Abstract

Athlete burnout is a growing problem throughout sport. One potential cause of burnout is perfectionism (Appleton & Hill, 2012). Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine if differences exist in perfectionism and burnout among male and female soccer players of differing competitive levels. The sample of this study included 26 soccer players recruited from the Cedar Valley Soccer Association. Twenty of the soccer players were girls, and 6 were boys. Four age groups participated in the study: U9, U11, U12, and U14.

Of the three burnout subscales (reduced sense of accomplishment, emotional/physical exhaustion, and sport devaluation), only two reliably assessed burnout constructs ( emotional/physical exhaustion and reduced sense of accomplishment), with alpha values ranging from .75 to .78. Of the dimensions of perfectionism, all were found to be reliable. ANOVA's were conducted to compare age groups on the different dimensions of burnout and perfectionism. Only two of the ANOVA's were found to be significant, striving to be perfect during competition and negative reactions to imperfection during competition. The ANOVA's were significant: F (1, 24) = 4.63, p < .05 and F (1, 24) = 5.55, p < .05, respectively. To specify, the U9/U11 age group strived to be perfect during competition more than the U12/U14 age group. The U9/U11 age group also had higher negative reactions to imperfection during competition than did the U12/U14 age group.

Although perfectionism has been found to be a leading cause of burnout in previous studies (Chen, Kee, & Tsai, 2012; Hill, Hall, Appleton, & Kozub, 2008), that cannot be said for this study. Differences were found between the younger age groups and the older age groups on striving to be perfect during competition, as well as negative reactions to imperfection during competition. This was not the same during practice. All the age groups had similar reactions to burnout, those being low. There were no relationships found between perfectionism and burnout as it was unable to be analyzed for this study due to the low number of participants. Therefore, based on this pilot study future research should analyze burnout and perfectionism in youth soccer players.

Year of Submission

2014

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Windee Weiss

Comments

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Date Original

2014

Object Description

1 PDF file (49 pages)

Language

en

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