The Relationship between Sport Motivation and Athletic Burnout in Male Soccer Players Participating in the 12th Universiade

The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between sport motivation and athletic burnout in male soccer players participating in the 12th universiade in Iran. The research method was descriptive/correlational method. 160 players who were members of soccer teams of universities completed these 2 questionnaires: 1- Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) by Pelletier et al. (1995) with 24 items and with 7-point Likert scale assessed 6 subscales of the variable, 2- Athletic Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) by Radak & Smith (2001) with 15 items and 5-point Likert scale assessed 3 subscales of the variable. The data were analyzed by SPSS, Pearson correlation coefficient test and multiple regression analysis at significance level of α≤0.05. The results revealed a reverse and significant relationship between internal motivation and burnout (r= -0.15, P=0.04), integrated regulation and burnout (r= -0.16, P=0.04), identified regulation and burnout (r= -0.26, P=0.01) and introjected regulation and burnout (r= -0.28, P=0.01). There was a direct and significant relationship between amotivation and burnout (r=0.60, P=0.01). Also, the results showed that the components of athletic motivation explained almost 35% of the variance of athletic burnout variable. So, based on these results and according to self-determination theory, it can be explained that motivation and psychological well-being of persons will maximize by satisfying their psychological needs, and thus it is less likely to experience burnout.