The role of parental affection and psychological control in adolescent athletes’ symptoms of school and sport burnout during the transition to upper secondary school

Abstract

The transition from compulsory school to upper secondary school is a challenging period for adolescents. Especially challenging it can be for adolescents who aim to integrate two domains of achievement, such as an athletic career and academic education. The pressure from two intertwined achievement domains may make student-athletes vulnerable to symptoms of burnout. The study examined the role of mothers' and fathers’ affection and psychological control as possible risk or protective factors in the symptoms of school and sport burnout among 15–16 year olds adolescent athletes in Finland.

Methods The adolescents’ (n = 391) burnout symptoms in the two domains were measured using questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of the first grade of upper secondary school. Mothers (n = 258) and fathers (n = 191) filled in questionnaires concerning their parenting behaviors at the beginning of the school year.

Results & conclusions The results showed that the athletes’ symptoms of both school and sport burnout increased across the school year. Maternal affection buffered against the increase of school burnout, but only when not combined with simultaneous psychologically controlling mothering.