The role of athletic identity and sport motivation in collegiate eSport burnout

College eSports have experienced rapid growth, yet research on psychological aspects of eSports is lacking, which has resulted in calls for greater understanding in this area. In traditional sports, athletic identity (Gustafsson et al., 2007) and sport motivations (Li et al., 2013) have been linked to athlete burnout, and as collegiate eSports become more structured and eSport athletes’ training becomes more intensive, their athletic identities and motivations may influence their burnout potential. While eSport athletes’ identity and sport motivations have been studied separately, no research has examined their relationship with college eSport athlete burnout. Therefore, the purpose was to determine the extent to which participation frequency, athletic identity (AI), and eSport motivations predicted college eSport athletes’ burnout. Collegiate eSport athletes (N = 98; M age = 20.55, SD = 2.33) were assessed on their self-reported eSport frequency, athletic identity, sport motivations, and burnout. A series of separate multiple regression analyses on burnout dimensions and global burnout showed that amotivation and external regulation were positive predictors of global burnout, and amotivation was also a positive predictor of reduced sense of accomplishment. In addition, amotivation, AI-self-presentation, and external regulation were positive predictors of eSport athletes’ exhaustion. Finally, amotivation and AI self-identity were positive and negative predictors (respectively) of eSport devaluation. Results suggest that amotivation is a predictor of burnout in college Sports and that certain aspects of athletic identity may buffer against burnout in eSport athletes.