the mediational role of perceived stress in the relation between optimism and burnout in competitive...

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The mediational role of perceivedstress in the relation betweenoptimism and burnout in competitiveathletesHenrik Gustafsson a b & Therése Skoog ca Faculty of Social and Life Sciences , Karlstad University ,Karlstad , Swedenb School of Health and Medical Sciences , Örebro University ,Örebro , Swedenc Department of Psychology , Örebro University , Örebro , SwedenAccepted author version posted online: 13 Jun 2011.Publishedonline: 05 Jul 2011.

To cite this article: Henrik Gustafsson & Therése Skoog (2012) The mediational role of perceivedstress in the relation between optimism and burnout in competitive athletes, Anxiety, Stress, &Coping: An International Journal, 25:2, 183-199, DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2011.594045

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The mediational role of perceived stress in the relation between optimismand burnout in competitive athletes

Henrik Gustafssona,b* and Therese Skoogc

aFaculty of Social and Life Sciences, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden; bSchool of Healthand Medical Sciences, Orebro University, Orebro, Sweden; cDepartment of Psychology, Orebro

University, Orebro, Sweden

(Received 19 January 2010; final version received 1 June 2011)

Burnout has been highlighted as an important issue, not only in occupationalsettings but also among athletes. Optimists appear to be more resistant toburnout, which might be partly explained by lower levels of stress. The purpose ofthis study was to investigate the relationship between optimism and burnoutsymptoms in 217 athletes (139 males and 78 females, aged 16 to 19 years), whilealso examining stress as a mediator in this relationship. The results showed thatoptimism had a significant negative relationship with both stress and burnout.Mediation analyses indicated that perceived stress fully mediated the linksbetween optimism and two symptoms of burnout, emotional/physical exhaustionand sport devaluation, and partly mediated the link between optimism and a thirdsymptom, reduced sense of accomplishment. The findings indicate that individualfactors, such as optimism, may play an important role in the development ofburnout by virtue of their association with stress. Future research should,therefore, investigate the longitudinal effects of optimism on stress and burnout.

Keywords: coaching; elite athletes; overtraining; stress management; positivepsychology; youth sport

Introduction

It has been known for some time that optimists’ perceptions of the world differ from

those of pessimists and that this seems to have implications for the person’s

psychological well-being and general health (Scheier & Carver, 1992; Carver, Scheier,

& Segerstrom, 2010). Optimism also seems to be negatively related to stress and

burnout (Crosno, Rinaldo, Black, & Kelley, 2009; Hayes & Weathington, 2007). Job

burnout is considered a prolonged reaction to chronic emotional and interpersonal

stressors in the person’s relationship with their work (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter,

2001). Burnout is also found in athletes and is associated with negative outcomes

such as performance impairment, reduced enjoyment, depressed mood and,

potentially, sport termination (Gustafsson, Kentta, & Hassmen, 2011). Prevention

of burnout is, therefore, desirable. Interestingly, optimists appear to perceive their life

as less stressful than pessimists, which might be why they are less likely to burn out

(Chang, Rand, & Strunk, 2000).

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Anxiety, Stress, & Coping

Vol. 25, No. 2, March 2012, 183�199

ISSN 1061-5806 print/1477-2205 online

# 2011 Taylor & Francis

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Burnout has gained considerable research attention since the concept was

developed over 30 years ago (Freudenberger, 1974; Maslach, 1976). One reason

probably lies in the detrimental impact of burnout on the individuals involved, which

includes impaired psychological well-being and physical health (Melamed, Shirom,

Toker, Berliner, & Shapira, 2006; Schaufeli & Buunk, 2003). Although Freudenber-

ger (1975) was early to pinpoint athletes as being susceptible to burnout, only more

recently have researchers begun to pay systematic attention to burnout in athletes (cf.Goodger, Gorely, Lavallee, & Harwood, 2007; Gustafsson et al., 2011). Based on

Maslach and Jackson’s (1984) conceptualization of burnout among human service

providers, Raedeke (1997) defined athlete burnout as a multidimensional syndrome

of emotional/physical exhaustion, reduced sense of athletic accomplishment, and

sport devaluation. Exhaustion is the central symptom of burnout, and is related to

stress associated with intense training and competitive demands (Gustafsson et al.,

2011; Raedeke & Smith, 2001). Reduced sense of athletic accomplishment is

manifested in a perception of low ability with regard to performance and sport skill

level (Gould, Tuffey, Udry, & Loehr, 1996; Gustafsson, Hassmen, Kentta, &

Johansson, 2008). Finally, sport devaluation manifests itself in a loss of motivation,

with the athlete ceasing to care about his or her previously beloved sport (Raedeke &

Smith, 2001; Smith, 1986). Qualitative research, in which burned-out athletes from

different sports have been interviewed, supports the view that these suggested

dimensions constitute the core components of athlete burnout (Cresswell & Eklund,

2006; Goodger, Wolfenden, & Lavalle, 2007; Gustafsson et al., 2008).A substantial amount of research has shown that athlete burnout is stress-related

(Gould, Udry, Tuffey, & Loehr, 1996; Hill, Hall, & Appleton, 2010; Raedeke &

Smith, 2004; Smith, 1986). Stress can be defined as a ‘‘substantial imbalance between

demand (physical and/or psychological) and response capability, under conditions

where a failure to meet that demand has important consequences’’ (McGrath, 1970,

p. 20). Even though people can handle rather demanding situations over time if they

have sufficient resources, they still run an increased risk of developing stress-related

ill-health (Semmer, McGrath, & Beehr, 2005). Indeed, the view has been expressed

that chronic stress is the main cause of burnout both among athletes and in

occupational settings (Gustafsson et al., 2011; Maslach et al., 2001). Many stress

researchers argue that it is not stressors per se that lead to ill-health, but the

transactions between the person and the environment and whether the individual

perceives a situation as a threat or not (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Thus, the

appraisal of the potentially stressful event plays an important role in the stress

process.

Optimism is a personality disposition reflecting an expectation that good thingswill happen, whereas pessimism refers to the expectation of negative future outcomes

(Scheier & Carver, 1985, 1992). Studies show that optimism is associated with greater

psychological adjustment and is negatively correlated with stress (Chang, 1998; Chang,

D’Zurilla, & Maydeu-Olivares, 1994; Scheier, Weintraub, & Carver, 1986). Optimists

also appear to experience life as less filled with daily hassles than pessimists (Dykema,

Bergbower, & Peterson, 1995) and do not dwell on problems or stressors (Carver et al.,

1993). A possible explanation for these findings can be found in expectancy-value

theories of motivation (Carver & Scheier, 2002; Carver, Scheier, Miller, & Fulford,

2009). According to this view, people’s behaviors are goal-directed, and stress

will occur when goal attainment is blocked or delayed (Scheier & Carver, 2000).

184 H. Gustafsson and T. Skoog

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The value referred to in these theories is in the importance of the goal, and expectancy

is a degree of confidence over whether the goal will be reached. The goals are divided

into desirable goals that people reach for and undesirable goals that they try to avoid.

The more important the goals are to the individual, the greater the value and, therefore,

the more motivational ‘‘force,’’ the goals have. Optimists are confident that they will

attain their goals, whereas pessimists are doubtful about the outcomes. Optimism is

therefore associated with a sense of control and confidence, making optimists morelikely to adopt active and proactive coping (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997), and thereby

prevent negative consequences of stress such as ill-health (Taylor, Kemeny, Reed,

Bower, & Gruenewald, 2000). This body of research suggests that optimists act less

reactively to life stressors than pessimists and, therefore, perceive life as less stressful

(Carver et al., 2010).

But why might optimists perceive their lives as less stressful than pessimists? An

important difference between optimists and pessimists appears to lie in how they

interpret and handle their experiences of stress. Optimists more often use active

coping and less avoidance coping than pessimists (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1992), and

they are also more inclined to use humor to alleviate the situation (Carver et al.,

1993). Another important difference is that optimists are more prone to acceptance

in uncontrollable situations, whereas pessimists tend toward denial (Litt, Tennen,

Affleck, & Klock, 1992). Thus, optimists appear to view life through a different,

more positive lens than pessimists, and thereby experience a life less full of negative

emotions and stress (Carver et al., 2010; Riskind, Sarampote, & Mercier, 1996).Optimists not only perceive life as less stressful, they also appear to be less likely

to experience symptoms of burnout. Research shows that optimism is negatively

related to burnout (Crosno et al., 2009; Hayes & Weathington, 2007; Thomas &

Rose, 2010). Even though these studies are all cross-sectional by nature, one study

has shown that a high level of dispositional optimism is negatively related to burnout

10, 14, and 17 years later (e.g., Salmela-Aro, Tolvanen, & Nurmi, 2009). Research

has not only shown that optimism is significantly negatively correlated with burnout,

but also that the relation between optimism and burnout is mediated, at least partly,

by stress (Chang et al., 2000). From a theoretical perspective, since optimism is

presumed to lead to experiencing life as less stressful (Scheier & Carver, 1987; Carver

et al., 2010; Chang et al., 1994; Taylor et al., 2000), stress is a potential mediator in

the relationship between optimism and burnout. That is, burnout is thought to be

caused by chronic stress to which optimists are less disposed (Cordes & Dougherty,

1993; Maslach et al., 2001).

In comparison with occupational settings, the relations between optimism, stress,and burnout in athletes are less explored. There is strong support for a relationship

between stress and athlete burnout (Black & Smith, 2007; Raedeke & Smith, 2001,

2004). Despite this, few studies have investigated stress as a mechanism in the

development of athlete burnout. In one exception, Raedeke and Smith found stress

to mediate the relationship between coping behaviors and burnout in age group

swimmers (2004). Recently, a significant negative correlation between optimism and

two of the burnout dimensions, emotional/physical exhaustion and sport devaluation

was found (Chen, Key, & Tsai, 2008). Interestingly, however, the correlation between

optimism and reduced sense of athletic accomplishment was not significant. This

might appear surprising since optimism is found to be correlated with performance

(Norlander & Archer, 2002) and physical self-efficacy (Kavussanu & McAuley, 1995).

Anxiety, Stress, & Coping 185

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The lack of significant correlation might partly be due to psychometric difficulties

with the subscale of reduced sense of accomplishment in the study by Chen and

colleagues (2008).

Although burnout is viewed as a multidimensional construct (Gustafsson

et al., 2011; Maslach et al., 2001), it is common to study burnout as a global

construct (Amorose, Anderson-Butcher, & Cooper, 2009; Lemyre, Treasure, &

Roberts, 2006 As the three dimensions of burnout are suggested to have different

antecedents (Maslach et al., 2001), it is important to investigate optimism and

each burnout dimension separately. From a theoretical standpoint, optimism is

more related to a reduced sense of accomplishment as optimism is characterized

by a sense of efficacy and confidence of future accomplishments whereas

exhaustion and sport devaluation are more stress related (Schaufeli & Buunk,

2003; Scheier & Carver, 1992, 2000).

Inconsistent findings regarding the relationships between optimism, stress, and

burnout require further examination of the issues involved. Although optimism

appears to be negatively related to burnout (Chen et al., 2008; Crosno et al.,

2009), the mechanism is not fully delineated. From a theoretical standpoint, stress

could act as a mediator in this relationship (Carver et al., 2010; Cohen &

Williamson, 1988). Earlier research has found partial support for this hypothesis

(Chang et al., 2000). Furthermore, only one study has examined the relationship

between optimism and burnout in athletes (Chen et al., 2008), and the relation-

ship between the dimensions of burnout and optimism needs further examination.

Therefore, we wanted to investigate the mediational role of stress in the

relationship between optimism and athlete burnout. Based on earlier research

(Chang et al., 2000), we predicted that optimism would be significantly negatively

related to burnout symptoms: low emotional/physical exhaustion, reduced sense of

accomplishment, and sport devaluation. We also expected that this influence

would, at least partly, be mediated by stress on all three burnout dimensions.

Method

Participants

A total of 217 athletes, 139 males (64%) and 78 females (36%), participated in the

study. The participants ranged in age from 16 to 19 years, with a mean age of

17.21 years (SD�.95). All were studying at three sport high schools in Sweden,

representing 25 different sports, including both team sports (e.g., ice-hockey,

basketball, handball, soccer, and volleyball) and individual sports (e.g., biathlon,

cross-country skiing, golf, tennis, and track and field). All participants were

competitive athletes, albeit at different levels. Their average training volume was

ten hours/week (M�9.97, SD�4.14). Although the athletes were involved in both

summer and winter sports, with seasonal variation, they were all in full training.

The academic schedule was based not only on sport but also on educational

commitments, but training was included in their schedule all year-round. Athletes

attending these sport schools were sampled because the risk of developing burnout

may be especially evident among young aspiring athletes (Gustafsson, Kentta,

Hassmen, & Lundqvist, 2007). They face not only high physical demands but also


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psychological pressure to reach elite level (Appleton, Hall, & Hill, 2009;

Gustafsson, Kentta, Hassmen, Lundqvist, & Durand-Bush, 2007).

Procedures

Initially, the principals and head coaches of the three schools were contacted in order

to obtain permission to conduct the study. Its aims were explained to the coaches and

athletes in accordance with the ethical standards of the American Psychological

Association. The athletes who subsequently agreed to participate in the study, byproviding informed written consent, were asked to complete a battery of ques-

tionnaires.

Measures

Optimism

Optimism was measured using a Swedish translation of the revised version of the

Life Orientation Test (LOT-R; Muhonen & Torkelson, 2005; Scheier, Carver, &

Bridges, 1994). The LOT-R is a brief, modified version of the original Life

Orientation Test (Scheier & Carver, 1985) with which it is highly correlated (Scheier

et al., 1994). The Lot-R scale contains 10 items including three positively worded

(e.g., ‘‘In uncertain times, I usually expect the best’’), three negatively phrased (e.g.,

‘‘If something can go wrong for me, it will’’), and four filler items (e.g., ‘‘It is easy forme to relax’’). Responses were provided on a 5-point scale, anchored by 0�‘‘strongly

disagree’’ and 4�‘‘strongly agree’’. High scores on the LOT-R reflect a general

tendency to expect more positive than negative outcomes. Scheier and colleagues

(1994) have provided support for the validity and reliability of the LOT-R with

acceptable factor structure and internal consistencies (i.e., Cronbach’s alpha) above

.70 and test-retest reliabilities ranging from r�.56�.79 during test intervals ranging

from 4 to 28 months, which indicate the stability of the scale.

The Swedish version has acceptable factor validity and an internal consistency(Cronbach’s alpha) score of .81 (Muhonen & Torkelson, 2005). Earlier research has

indicated the validity of using the LOT-R with athletes (Petrie, Greenleaf, Reel, &

Carter, 2009; Venne, Laguna, Walk, & Ravizza, 2006), and the Swedish version of

LOT has been used in a study by Norlander and Archer (2002). Whether optimism is

a one-dimensional or a bipolar construct has been discussed by advocates on both

sides (cf. Carver et al., 2009). For this study, we used the LOT-R as a one-

dimensional construct based on the theoretical model provided by Scheier et al.

(1994).

Athlete burnout

A Swedish version of the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ; Raedeke & Smith,

2001, 2009) was used to assess the participants’ level of burnout. The ABQ is a 15-item self-report inventory that contains three subscales, including emotional/physical

exhaustion (e.g., ‘‘I feel overly tired from my sport participation’’), reduced sense of

sport accomplishment (e.g., ‘‘I am not performing up to my ability in sport’’), and

sport devaluation (e.g., ‘‘I don’t care as much about my sport performance as I used


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to’’). The stem for each item was ‘‘How often do you feel this way?’’ Participants

responded on a 5-point Likert scale with anchors: (1) ‘‘almost never,’’ (2) ‘‘rarely,’’ (3)

‘‘sometimes,’’ (4) ‘‘frequently,’’ and (5) ‘‘almost always.’’ The ABQ has shown good

psychometric properties with internal consistencies (Cronbach’s alpha) above .80 forall three subscales, and short-term test-retest reliability (7 to 9 days) ranging from

r�.86 to .92 (Raedeke & Smith, 2001, 2009). The Swedish version of the ABQ has

been found to have acceptable factor validity, and internal consistency (Cronbach’s

alpha) ranging from .83 to .88 (Smith, Gustafsson, & Hassmen, 2010).

Stress

To measure stress, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein,

1983) was employed. The PSS measures self-appraised stress (e.g., ‘‘During the past

month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control the important things

in your life?’’), and consists of 10 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale from 0

(‘‘never’’) to 4 (‘‘very often’’). The questions are general in nature, are, therefore,

relatively context-free (Cohen & Williamson, 1988), and measure the degree to whichrespondents find their lives unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloading, all of

which are central to the stress experience (Cohen et al., 1983). This questionnaire has

been reported to have good construct validity (Cohen et al., 1983; Cohen &

Williamson, 1988) and has been used in research investigating stress as a mediator in

the link between optimism and burnout (Chang et al., 2000). The PSS is a state

measure whose test-retest reliability is adequate for short time periods (2 days,

r�.85), Cohen et al., 1983). The Swedish version has been validated using

confirmatory factor analysis and has been found to have acceptable factor validitywith an internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of .84 (Smith et al., 2010).

Results

Preliminary analysis

Initially, the participants’ scores were examined for missing values. For three

participants, there was a fairly large number of missing data, more than 5% and,

therefore, we deleted their records from the sample before running descriptive

statistics. The rest of the data-set was complete. Data were thereafter screened for

univariate and multivariate outliers. Following the guidelines of Tabachnick and

Fidell (2007), standardized z-scores with 3.29 as critical value (pB.001) were used for

univariate outliers, and Mahalanobis distances with critical value of x2(5)�20.52

(pB.001) were used for multivariate outliers. No univariate or multivariate outlierswere found. Skewness (z-transformated scores) ranged between �.36 and .66, and

kurtosis between �.22 and .48, which indicated normality.

Descriptive statistics

The lower part of Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations, and reliability

estimates for the study measures. All measurements had good alpha coefficients

compared with Nunnally’s (1978) guideline of .70, except for optimism, whose alpha

(.67) was marginally below the cut-off point. However, the mean inter-item


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correlation was found to be acceptable (.25), and the corrected total item correlations

ranged from .24 to .58. Therefore, scale reliability was considered sufficient (Clark &

Watson, 1995). The ABQ scores in this study were low to moderate, indicating

that many of the participants were not particularly burned out, but this is a

commonly reported finding in the literature (Raedeke & Smith, 2009). The mean

values found in the current study were similar to those reported in other studies of

burnout among young athletes (Hill, Hall, Appleton, & Kozub, 2008; Raedeke &

Smith, 2001).

Bivariate correlations

Table 1 also presents the associations between optimism, stress, and the three

dimensions of burnout. A significant negative relationship (pB.01) was found

between optimism and all three dimensions of burnout, indicating that the more

optimistic the athletes were, the less they reported signs of emotional/physical

exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishment, and sport devaluation. In J. Cohen’s

(1988) terminology, the strength of the relationship between optimism and reduced

sense of accomplishment was moderate to strong, for emotional/physical exhaustion

low/weak, and for sport devaluation low to moderate. In sum, optimism seems to be

a significantly negatively correlated with symptoms of burnout in young athletes.

Optimism was also negatively correlated with stress (pB.001), for which the strength

of the relationship was moderate to high/strong.As expected, stress was significantly related to all three dimensions of burnout

(pB.001), indicating that the more stressful the athletes perceived their life situations

to be, the higher the degree of emotional/physical exhaustion, the lower the sense of

accomplishment, and the greater sport devaluation they reported. The strengths of

the associations ranged from moderate for emotional/physical exhaustion and sport

devaluation to high/strong for reduced sense of accomplishment (J. Cohen, 1988).

Thus, perceiving one’s life situation as stressful seems to be linked to a higher risk of

burnout among young athletes.

Table 1. Correlations and descriptive statistics.

1 2 3 4 5

1.Optimism 1

2.Perceived stress �.44*** 1

3.Emotional/physical

exhaustion

�.17* .39*** 1

4.Sport devaluation �.27*** .40*** .46*** 1

5.Reduced

accomplishment

�.40*** .54*** .39*** .67*** 1

M 3.38 1.84 2.24 2.15 2.34

SD 0.63 0.65 0.77 0.93 0.80

Cronbach’s alpha .67 .84 .87 .85 .83

Note: N �217.*pB.05; **pB.01; ***pB.001.


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Hierarchical regression analyses

According to Baron and Kenny (1986), perceived stress is a mediator of the links

between optimism and the three aspects of burnout if: (1) optimism is significantly

correlated with perceived stress, (2) perceived stress is significantly correlated with

the particular aspect of burnout, (3) optimism is significantly correlated with the

particular aspect of burnout, and (4) the correlation between optimism and the

particular aspect of burnout is zero when perceived stress is controlled for. If

the correlation is reduced, but not to zero, there is support for partial mediation. In

addition to this technique for testing mediation, which is likely to suffer from low

statistical power (MacKinnon, Lockwood, Hoffman, West, & Sheets, 2002), we

used the procedure developed by Preacher and Hayes (2004), which is a

bootstrapping technique for testing directly the significance of the indirect effect

of a mediating variable on an association between a predictor and an outcome

variable.We tested the mediation hypothesis for all three aspects of burnout: emotional/

physical exhaustion, reduced sense of accomplishment and sport devaluation,

separately. The results of the hierarchical regression analyses used to test mediation

according to Baron and Kenny (1986) are reported in Table 2.

Emotional/physical exhaustion

At the first step of a hierarchical regression analysis, optimism was entered into the

model, F(1, 215)�8.16, pB.01. Optimism was a significant predictor of emotional/

physical exhaustion, accounting for 4% of the variance in this burnout symptom. At

the second step, perceived stress was added to the model, F(2, 214)�18.20, pB.001.

At this point, optimism was no longer a significant predictor of emotional/physical

exhaustion, and explained minimal variance in the burnout symptom. According to

the procedure proposed by Preacher and Hayes (2004), the indirect effect (estimated

using 5000 bootstrap resamples, with replacement) was significant (bootstrap

coefficient��.16), with a 95% confidence interval of �.24 to �.09. These findings

indicate that perceived stress fully mediates the link between optimism and

emotional/physical exhaustion.

Table 2. Mediation models predicting the three symptoms of athlete burnout from optimism

and perceived stress.

Emotional/physical

exhaustion Sport devaluation

Reduced sense of

accomplishment

Predictor DR2 b DR2 b DR2 b

Step 1 .04 .07 .14 �.37***

Optimism �.19** �.27***

Step 2 .11 .10 .17 �.17**

Optimism �.03 �.11 .45***

Stress .37*** .35***

Total R2 .15 .17 .31

*pB.05; **pB.01; ***pB.001.


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Sport devaluation

At the first step of a second hierarchical regression analysis, optimism was entered

into the model, F(1, 215)�16.26, pB.001. Optimism was a significant predictor of

sport devaluation, accounting for 7% of the variance in this burnout symptom

(R2�.07). At the second step, perceived stress was added to the model, F(2,

214)�21.97, pB.001. At this point, optimism was no longer a significant predictor

of sport devaluation and explained only 1% of the variance in the burnout symptom.

According to the procedure proposed by Preacher and Hayes (2004), the indirect

effect (estimated using 5000 bootstrap resamples, with replacement) was significant

(bootstrap coefficient��.19), with a 95% confidence interval of �.28 to �.10.

These findings indicate that perceived stress fully mediates the link between optimism

and sport devaluation.

Reduced sense of athletic accomplishment

At the first step of the third hierarchical regression analysis, optimism was found to

be a significant predictor of reduced sense of accomplishment, accounting for 14% of

the variance in this burnout symptom, F(1, 215)�34.62, pB.001, R2�.14. At the

second step, perceived stress was added to the model. At this point, although beta fell

from .37 to .17, optimism was still a significant predictor of reduced sense of

accomplishment, explaining 3% of the variance in the burnout symptom, F(2,

214)�46.85, pB.001. According to the procedure proposed by Preacher and Hayes

(2004), the indirect effect (estimated using 5000 bootstrap resamples, with replace-

ment) was significant (bootstrap coefficient��.22), with a 95% confidence interval

of �.31 to �.13. These findings indicate that perceived stress partially mediates the

link between optimism and a reduced sense of athletic accomplishment.

Discussion

The purposes of this study were to investigate the relation between optimism and

burnout among athletes, and the mediational role played by stress in this relation-

ship. We found that optimistic athletes displayed lower levels of emotional/physical

exhaustion and sport devaluation and less of a reduced sense of accomplishment.

Therefore, it appears that optimism is associated with lower perceptions of burnout.

We also found that stress fully mediated the relation between optimism and burnout

on two of the burnout dimensions (physical/emotional exhaustion and sport

devaluation), but that it only partly mediated the relation between optimism and

reduced sense of accomplishment.

The results from this study partly replicate the findings from the only other earlier

study that has investigated the relationship between optimism and athlete burnout;

namely, that optimism is negatively related to exhaustion and sport devaluation

(Chen et al., 2008). However, there is one exception: we also found support for a

negative relationship between optimism and reduced sense of accomplishment. Our

findings are, thereby, in-line with research in occupational settings where additional

support has been found for a negative relationship between optimism and all three

dimensions of burnout (Crosno et al., 2009; Thomas & Rose, 2010).


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As burnout is considered a multidimensional syndrome by many (Maslach et al.,

2001; Raedeke, 1997), knowledge of the relationships between stress, optimism, and

the independent burnout dimensions is important in order to increase our under-

standing of burnout. The finding that stress did not fully mediate the relationship

between optimism and reduced sense of accomplishment might not be surprising.

The mediating role of stress in relation to exhaustion and sport devaluation appears

reasonable according to theoretical assumptions, since these dimensions are clearlystress-related (Maslach et al., 2001; Schaufeli & Buunk, 2003). Even more

importantly, the theoretical ideas underlying both optimism and reduced sense of

athletic accomplishment are linked. Optimism can be regarded as generalized

positive outcome expectancy or as a sense of confidence that a goal can be attained

(or a lack of doubt as to the goal’s attainability; Carver et al., 2010; Carver & Scheier,

2002). The significant correlation found in this study strengthens this assumption.

Furthermore, others have also argued that burnout is more than just stress

(Raedeke, 1997). One explanation for the direct effect of optimism on burnout might

be in social relationships: optimists are better than pessimists at developing social

relationships and this is known to have positive effects on health and general well-

being (Brisette, Scheier, & Carver, 2003; S. Cohen, 1988; Geers, Reilly, & Dember,

1998). These issues need further exploration, but not spending time with significant

others has been found to be related to burnout in athletes (Kjørmo & Halvari, 2002).

It is also important to note that some researchers (Kristensen, Borritz, Villadsen,& Christensen, 2005; Shirom, 1989) have criticized the multidimensional view of

burnout. These researchers argue that reduced sense of accomplishment is not part

of the burnout phenomenon. This is shown in the low correlation between lack of

accomplishment and the two other dimensions, whereas exhaustion and cynicism are

highly correlated (Lee & Ashforth, 1996) and lack of accomplishment seems to

develop individually or in parallel with the two other dimensions (Leiter, 1993;

Schutte, Toppinen, Kalimo, & Schaufeli, 2000). This can explain the different

relationship between optimism and this dimension. However, the unidimensional

view of burnout has been strongly criticized by others who claim that reducing

burnout to exhaustion will make us lose sight of the phenomenon entirely (Maslach

et al., 2001; Schaufeli & Taris, 2005). Frustration over lack of accomplishment also

seems to be a salient feature of athlete burnout (Gustafsson et al., 2008). Therefore,

the role of optimism in relation to this dimension needs further investigation.

To some extent, the findings in the current study are also consistent with earlier

research in occupational settings (Chang et al., 2000). However, in our study, where

we found stress to fully mediate the relationship between optimism and two of theburnout dimensions (exhaustion and sport devaluation). Chang and colleagues, by

contrast, found that stress did not fully mediate the effect of optimism in any

burnout dimension. Explanations for the differences in findings must be interpreted

with caution because different types of measures were used. In the study by Chang et

al. (2000), burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach,

Jackson, & Leiter, 1996) that measures occupational burnout, whereas the sport-

specific ABQ was used in the present study. Although it has been suggested that

athlete and job burnout have similar theoretical underpinnings (Raedeke, 1997), the

roles of stress and optimism in relation to athlete burnout may be different. One

possible explanation is the physical component of exhaustion in athlete burnout and,

thereby, that athlete burnout is more strongly stress related than occupational


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burnout due to the physical training stress in sport (Gustafsson et al., 2011). As

aforementioned, exhaustion and cynicism (or sport devaluation in athletic settings)

are considered to be the more stress related dimensions in job burnout (Schaufeli &

Buunk, 2003). However, reduced sense of accomplishment was the burnoutdimension with the strongest correlation with stress in the current study. This

pattern has also been found in other studies of athlete burnout (Black & Smith, 2007;

Raedeke & Smith, 2001). This must be further delineated in future research, but one

reason may be the measure of stress (PSS) that does not take training load into

account. Another important difference of athlete and job burnout is that the

participation in sport for these athletes is voluntarily as they are not employed (i.e.,

professional). This contrasts with burnout in occupational settings where work and

employment are not self-determined and instead are necessities for income.

Limitations and future directions

The current study has a number of limitations that must be taken into account. The

somewhat low internal consistency of the LOT-R found in this investigation must be

considered. Although the LOT-R is not a sport-specific measure, it has been used

successfully with athletes (Petrie et al., 2009; Venne et al., 2006). In the validation of

the Swedish version (Muhonen & Torkelson, 2005), acceptable internal consistencywas found (Cronbach’s alpha of .81). The athletes in the current study were younger

than the earlier populations using the Swedish version, which might be explain the

somewhat low internal consistency.

The cross-sectional design of this study is a limitation, and the long-term effects

of optimism on burnout perceptions need further investigation. A longitudinal

design is essential for investigating the direction of the effect of optimism on the risk

of burnout (Peterson & Bossio, 2002) and, to our knowledge, only one study has

investigated this relationship (Salmela-Aro et al., 2009). Even though there isconsiderable support for the positive long-term effects of optimism on health

(Peterson, 2000), studying the associations between optimism, stress, and burnout

using a longitudinal design is a necessity in future research.

Earlier research into burnout and stress has investigated sport-specific stress (e.g.,

Raedeke & Smith, 2001, 2004). This is in-line with the view that burnout is context

specific and work related (Maslach et al., 2001). However, recent research

(Gustafsson et al., 2008) indicates that the total stress experience is associated with

the development of athlete burnout, which is why the general version of PSS has beenused (Smith et al., 2010). Importantly, the PSS is a relatively non-specific measure of

stress, since it measures the global stress experience (Cohen & Williamson, 1988). It

is common to measure specific stressors or stressful events, but research shows that

these kinds of measurements can often be misinterpreted, and that illness is affected

by the global level of stress not just by a specific event (Cohen & Williamson, 1988).

Thus, a global measure of perceived stress would more adequately capture the total

stress experience and, thereby, be more likely to represent the total stress experienced

by athletes (see Kentta & Hassmen, 2002 for a discussion of total recovery andstress). However, the PSS is not designed to measure training stress or effect of

training overload, which might be important to incorporate in future studies. It is

also important to emphasize that in this study stress has been measured at the

‘‘output’’ level (i.e., the individual’s subjective reaction to stress) in comparison with


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‘‘input’’ of stress (i.e., objective external stressors) and that the relationship between

optimism, stress, and burnout may vary depending on when in the transaction stress

is measured (Lazarus, 1990). Therefore, investigation into the relationship between

optimism and burnout and different phases of the stress process is warranted.

Implications and conclusion

The practical implication of this study is that promoting optimistic attitudes may be

a potential way of intervening to prevent stress and burnout in athletes. Although no

interventions have been conducted in sport, a variety of interventions have been

proposed in occupational settings, both to treat as well as prevent burnout (Maslach

et al., 2001). The interventions include both individually centered as well as

organizationally focused strategies (Schaufeli & Buunk, 2003). Maslach and Leiter

(1997) have put forward a model of matching (or mismatching) the individual with

six work domains: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values.

According to this model, the greater the mismatch between the individual and these

areas, the greater the risk of burnout. This model has received initial support but has

not been tested in sport (Maslach & Leiter, 2008).

As stress appears to be an important aspect of burnout in athletes, stress

reduction might be important in preventing athlete burnout. Cognitive Behavioral

Therapy (CBT) has been shown to be an effective way of reducing stress (Granath,

Ingvarsson, von Thiele, & Lundberg, 2006; van der Klink, Blonk, Schene, & van

Djik, 2001) and also making pessimists more optimistic (Carver et al., 2009). In the

cognitive model (Beck, 1976; Dobson & Dobson, 2009), therapy focuses on changing

specific thoughts and distorted thinking. Although optimism refers to a broad

disposition of generalized expectation, CBT focuses more on specifically biased

thinking where optimism and pessimism can be conceptualized within the cognitive

model (Pretzer & Walsh, 2002). The CBT can make the individual more aware of

automatic pessimistic thinking, challenging such thinking, and using positive

reframing in order to deal with pessimistic beliefs, reduce stress, and potentially

reduce the risk of burnout (Carver et al., 2009; Gustafsson et al., 2011; Pretzer &

Beck, 2007).

Even though social and organizational factors are considered to be the most

prominent causes of burnout (Maslach et al., 2001), the findings of this study and

others (e.g., Chang et al., 2000; Chen et al., 2008) support the importance of

individual differences with regard to optimism in the development of burnout.

Although this does not mean that interventions to enhance the environment in sport

settings (e.g., the motivational climate) are not important in preventing burnout,

certain aspects of elite sports, such as external pressure and training demands, are

difficult or impossible to completely eliminate. Individual-based interventions

designed, for example, to promote an optimistic attitude may therefore be important

in the setting of competitive and elite sports for avoiding burnout and increasing

well-being.

Acknowledgment

This study was partly supported by the Swedish National Centre for Research in Sports.


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the mediational role of perceived stress in the relation between optimism and burnout in competitive...

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