Burnout syndrome and motivation aspects in elite motocross athletes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v82.119124Keywords:
Athletes, Mental Health, Performance, Psychology, SportAbstract
Introduction: Burnout syndrome may negatively affect athletes’ well-being and performance, with motivation playing an important role in its development.
Objetive: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of burnout syndrome and its relationship with motivation and performance level in elite motocross athletes.
Methodology: Thirty athletes from the MX1, MX2, and MXJr categories participated in this cross-sectional study. Burnout syndrome was assessed using the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire, and motivation was evaluated using the Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire.
Results: The prevalence of burnout syndrome was 20.69%, with 17.24% of athletes presenting low burnout and 3.45% moderate burnout. In the MX1 category, amotivation was positively correlated with total burnout and physical and emotional exhaustion, whereas extrinsic motivation was negatively correlated with reduced sense of accomplishment. In MX2 athletes, intrinsic motivation was negatively associated with total burnout and reduced sense of accomplishment. In the MXJr category, extrinsic motivation was positively correlated with sports devaluation. No significant differences in burnout syndrome or motivation were observed among the three competitive categories. However, higher-performance athletes exhibited lower reduced sense of accomplishment and higher integrated regulation than lower-performance athletes.
Discussion: Burnout was associated with motivational regulation in elite motocross athletes. Self-determined motivation was related to lower burnout symptoms, while amotivation was associated with higher burnout levels.
Conclusions: Elite motocross athletes showed a considerable prevalence of burnout syndrome associated with motivational factors. More self-determined forms of motivation were related to lower burnout symptoms and more favorable performance outcomes.
References
Ascensão, A., Ferreira, R., Marques, F., Oliveira, E., Azevedo, V., Soares, J., Magalhães, J., & Duarte, J. (2007). Effect of off-road competitive motocross race on plasma oxidative stress and damage markers. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 41(2), 101–105. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2006.031591
Bakker, F. C., Whiting, H. T. A., & van der Brug, H. (1993). Psicología del deporte: Conceptos y aplica-ciones. Ediciones Morata.
Casagrande, P. de O., Coimbra, D. R., & Andrade, A. (2018). Burnout in elite tennis players of different junior categories. Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte, 24(2), 121–124. https://doi.org/10.1590/1517-869220182402181208
Chang, K. H., Lu, F. J. H., Chyi, T., Hsu, Y. W., Chan, C. C., Wang, E. T. W., & Chang, Y. K. (2017). Examining the stress-burnout relationship: The mediating role of negative thoughts. PeerJ, 5, e4181. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4181
Cresswell, S. L., & Eklund, R. C. (2005). Motivation and burnout in professional rugby players. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 76(4), 370–376. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2005.10599309
Cresswell, S. L., & Eklund, R. C. (2006). Athlete burnout: Conceptual confusion, current research, and future research directions. In S. Hanton & S. D. Mellalieu (Eds.), Literature reviews in sport psy-chology (pp. 91–126). Nova Science Publishers.
De Francisco, C., Sánchez-Romero, E. I., Vílchez Conesa, M. D. P., & Arce, C. (2020). Basic psychological needs, burnout and engagement in sport: The mediating role of motivation regulation. Interna-tional Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(14), 4941. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17144941
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2271-7
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01
Dubuc-Charbonneau, N., Durand-Bush, N., & Forneris, T. (2014). Exploring levels of student-athlete burnout at two Canadian universities. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 44(2), 135–151. https://doi.org/10.47678/cjhe.v44i2.183864
Eklund, R. C., & DeFreese, J. D. (2007). Athlete burnout. In G. Tenenbaum & R. C. Eklund (Eds.), Hand-book of sport psychology (3rd ed., pp. 621–641). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118270011.ch28
Guedes, D. P., & Mota, J. S. (2016). Motivação: Educação física, exercício físico e esporte. Editora Un-opar.
Guedes, D. P., & Sousa, R. O. (2016). Propriedades psicométricas do Athlete Burnout Questionnaire para uso em atletas jovens brasileiros. Journal of Physical Education, 27(1), e2708. https://doi.org/10.4025/jphyseduc.v27i1.2708
Gustafsson, H., Kenttä, G., & Hassmén, P. (2011). Athlete burnout: An integrated model and future re-search directions. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 4(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2010.541927
Hernandez, J. A. E., Voser, R. da C., & Lykawka, M. da G. A. (2004). Motivação no esporte de elite: Com-paração de categorias do futsal e futebol. Revista Digital EFDeportes, 10, 1–7.
Konttinen, H., Haukkala, A., & Uutela, A. (2008). Comparing sense of coherence, depressive symptoms and anxiety, and their relationships with health in a population-based study. Social Science & Medicine, 66(11), 2401–2412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.01.053
Lemyre, P. N., Treasure, D. C., & Roberts, G. C. (2006). Influence of variability in motivation and affect on elite athlete burnout susceptibility. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 28(1), 32–48. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.28.1.32
Lonsdale, C., & Hodge, K. (2011). Temporal ordering of motivational quality and athlete burnout in elite sport. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(5), 913–921. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181ff56c6
Lonsdale, C., Hodge, K., & Rose, E. A. (2008). The Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire (BRSQ): Instrument development and initial validity evidence. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psycholo-gy, 30(3), 323–355. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.30.3.323
Lonsdale, C., Hodge, K., & Rose, E. A. (2009). Athlete burnout in elite sport: A self-determination per-spective. Journal of Sports Sciences, 27(8), 785–795. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410902929366
Lundkvist, E., Gustafsson, H., Davis, P. A., Holmström, S., Hassmén, P., & Hein, V. (2018). The temporal relations across burnout dimensions in athletes. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 28(3), 1215–1226. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13000
Moreno Murcia, J. A. (2006). A permanência de praticantes em programas aquáticos baseada na teoria da autodeterminação. Fitness & Performance Journal, 5(1), 5–10.
Pestana, G. D. M. (2009). Motivação, ansiedade e burnout no desporto (Dissertação de mestrado). Fac-uldade de Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Pires, D. A., Brandão, M. R. F., & Silva, C. B. da. (2006). Validação do questionário de burnout para atletas. Revista da Educação Física/UEM, 17(1), 27–36. https://doi.org/10.4025/reveducfisv17n1p27-36
Raedeke, T. D. (1997). Is athlete burnout more than just stress? A sport commitment perspective. Jour-nal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 19(4), 396–417. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.19.4.396
Sarrazin, P., Vallerand, R., Guillet, E., Pelletier, L., & Cury, F. (2002). Motivation and dropout in female handballers: A 21-month prospective study. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32(3), 395–418. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.98
Tutko, T. A., & Richards, J. W. (1984). Psicología del entrenamiento deportivo. Boston.
Vallerand, R. J., & Rousseau, F. L. (2001). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in sport and exercise: A re-view using the hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In R. N. Singer, H. A. Hausenblas, & C. M. Janelle (Eds.), Handbook of sport psychology (2nd ed., pp. 389–416). John Wiley & Sons.
Vieira, L. F., Carruzo, N. M., Aizava, P. V. S., & Rigoni, P. A. G. (2013). Análise da síndrome de burnout e das estratégias de coping em atletas brasileiros de vôlei de praia. Revista Brasileira de Educação Física e Esporte, 27(2), 269–276. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1807-55092013005000012
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Gustavo Oneda, Alysson Enes, Jose Moiano Junior, Emanuel Rodrigues Pinheiro, Diogo Palumbo, Danilo Leonel
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine.
- Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Is allowed and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as to a subpoena more Early and more of published work (See The Effect of Open Access) (in English).
This journal provides immediate open access to its content (BOAI, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess) on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The authors may download the papers from the journal website, or will be provided with the PDF version of the article via e-mail.
