Longitudinal trajectories of athlete burnout among young table tennis players: A 3-wave study

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were to examine the trajectories of athlete burnout across a 2-month period characterized by high physical, psychological, and social demands to explore (1) whether several subgroups of athletes representing distinct burnout trajectories emerged from the analyses and (2) whether athlete burnout symptoms (reduced accomplishment, sport devaluation, and exhaustion) developed in tandem or whether some burnout dimensions predicted downstream changes in other dimensions (causal ordering model). METHODS: One hundred and fifty-nine table tennis players in intensive training centers completed a self-reported athlete burnout measure across 3 time points within a 2-month period characterized by high demands. Data were analyzed through latent class growth analysis. RESULTS: Results of latent class growth analysis showed 3 distinct trajectories for each athlete burnout dimension, indicating not only linear or quadratic change but also stability in longitudinal athlete burnout perceptions. Results also suggested that the 3 dimensions of athlete burnout did not develop in tandem. Rather, the likelihood of belonging to particular emerging trajectories of sport devaluation and physical/emotional exhaustion was significantly influenced by the athletes' perception of reduced accomplishment assessed at Time 1. Thus, reduced accomplishment predicted downstream changes in the 2 other athlete burnout dimensions. CONCLUSION: As a whole, these results highlighted that the multinomial heterogeneity in longitudinal athlete burnout symptoms needs to be accounted for in future research.