Burnout and its relations with basic psychological needs and motivation among athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: The present study is a review on studies about the relationships between the three basic psychological needs/motivational regulations (i.e., amotivation, controlled regulation, extrinsic autonomous regulation, and intrinsic motivation) and burnout. Design: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Method: Studies were identified through five electronic databases and manual search using combinations of three groups of keywords. Three inclusion criteria were then used to screen the searched articles. Results: Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria and these studies varied considerably in terms of their study characteristics (e.g., characteristics of participants, study designs, and outcome measures). The results also showed that the three basic psychological needs, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic autonomous regulation, and amotivation had small to large effects on predicting global burnout and its three dimensions. However, controlled regulation showed no or weak correlations with the burnout subscales. Conclusions: Self-determination theory was generally supported in explaining athlete burnout. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.