A motivational model of sleep disturbance in winter athletes: the roles of motivational climate, basic psychological needs, and burnout

The present research investigated the associations among motivational climates, basic psychological needs, burnout, and sleep disturbance in winter sports athletes guided by achievement goal theory and self-determination theory. It included 456 participants (263 males, 193 females, aged 18 to 25 years) from three sports universities across five winter sports events. Participants completed four psychological scales related to the study variables. The results indicated that task-involving climate was positively associated with basic psychological needs satisfaction, whereas ego-involving climate showed a negative association. In turn, basic psychological needs satisfaction was negatively related to burnout, which was positively associated with sleep disturbance. Overall, these findings underscore the sequential associations linking motivational climates, basic psychological needs, burnout, and sleep disturbance within a coherent motivational process model, supporting the inclusion of sleep disturbance elements into the consequences of motivational model.