The Effects of Gender and Competitive Level on Athlete's Burnout in Individual Sports

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of gender and competitive level on athletes'' burnout in individual sports. To this aim، in a causal-comparative study، 185 ath-letes from Track and Field، Shooting، Wushu، Karate، and Taekwondo (age: 25. 19±4. 78 yrs، competitive experience: 8. 24±6. 07 yrs، gen-der: 96 male and 89 female، competitive level: 98 national and 87 international) who participated in national championships or Asian Games preparation camps in 2010 were selected using random cluster sampling method and completed individual information form and Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance، one-way analysis of variance and LSD tests at the 95% confidence level. Results showed that burnout of females is higher than males in all dimension (p<0. 01). Athletes who compete in national championships had higher reduced sense of accomplishment and devaluation than athletes who compete in international championships (p<0. 01)، but in dimension of physical/emotional exhaustion، the results was inverse (p=0. 009). Multiple comparisons for interaction effect of gender and competitive level showed that females who compete in national championships have the highest level of burnout in reduced sense of accomplishment and devaluation dimensions and females who compete in international level have the highest level of burnout in physical/emotional exhaustion dimension (p<0. 05). Findings of the study suggest that female athletes، especially in low competitive level، are in exposure of greater risk of reduced sense of accomplishment and devaluation، while in high competitive level may be more vulnerable for experiencing physical/emotional exhaustion.