ABSTRACT

Burnout is a mental health problem that appears to be increasingly common among athletes. Importantly, burnout may also simultaneously increase the risk for other health consequences. In order to examine this idea further, in the present study we provide the first systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between athlete burnout and mental and physical health outcomes. A literature search returned 54 studies (N = 13,976 athletes) examining various negative (e.g. depression, anxiety, insomnia; 27 studies) and positive (e.g. satisfaction, vitality, quality of life; 19 studies) mental health outcomes and physical health outcomes (e.g. biomarkers, somatic symptoms, physiological indices; 18 studies). A systematic review of this literature showed that athlete burnout was associated with both increases in negative mental health outcomes and decreases in positive mental health outcomes. However, evidence for an association between athlete burnout and physical health outcomes was mixed. This broad pattern of findings was supported by a meta-analysis. Our review suggests that burnout may indeed have many negative implications for athletes’ health. The findings also identify a need for further research in this area, especially in relation to burnout and its longitudinal association with biomarkers and physiological indices.

摘要

职业倦怠是一种心理健康问题，在运动员中似乎越来越普遍。重要的是，倦怠还可能同时增加其他健康后果的风险。为了进一步检验这个想法，在本研究中，我们对运动员倦怠与身心健康结果之间的关联进行了首次系统回顾和荟萃分析。文献检索返回 54 项研究（N = 13,976 名运动员）检查各种消极（例如抑郁、焦虑、失眠；27 项研究）和积极（例如满意度、活力、生活质量；19 项研究）心理健康结果和身体健康结果（例如生物标志物、躯体症状、生理指标； 18 项研究）。对这些文献的系统回顾表明，运动员倦怠与消极心理健康结果的增加和积极心理健康结果的减少有关。然而，关于运动员倦怠与身体健康结果之间关联的证据却好坏参半。这一广泛的发现模式得到了荟萃分析的支持。我们的审查表明，职业倦怠确实可能对运动员的健康产生许多负面影响。研究结果还表明需要在该领域进行进一步研究，