Sport Burnout in Student-Athletes: The Role of Cognitive Flexibility, Task and Ego Orientation in Sport and Sport Anxiety

This study examined the mediating role of sport anxiety, task, and ego orientation in the relationship between cognitive flexibility and sport burnout. The study participants consisted of 397 sport high school students, 155 female (39%) and 242 male (61%). The ages of the students participating in the study ranged from 13 to 19 (x̄=16.26, SD=1.218). Cognitive Flexibility Inventory, Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire, Sports Anxiety Scale, and Sports Burnout Inventory were used to collect data for the study. According to the findings of this study, sport anxiety and ego and task orientation factors mediate the relationship between cognitive flexibility and sport burnout. Sport high school students with high cognitive flexibility effectively cope with the anxious situations they encounter in sport. These students with reduced sport anxiety and increased ego and task orientation tend to experience reduced sport burnout due to perceiving stimuli in their environment as less disturbing. To protect students from sport burnout, the school curriculum and preventive strategies should be designed to reduce sport anxiety and ego orientation and increase task orientation. Extending cognitive flexibility and task orientation learning outcomes in high school sport programs can help protect students from burnout and improve their functionality in sport. Considering the effect of team sport enhancing task orientation, including more team sport in addition to individual sport in sport high schools will be effective in preventing sport burnout.