Mindfulness and Burnout in Elite Junior Athletes: The Mediating Role of Experiential Avoidance

Chun-Qing Zhang*, Gangyan Si, Pak-Kwong Chung, Daniel F. Gucciardi

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    25 Citations (Scopus)
    44 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Previous research suggests that mindfulness and experiential avoidance are negatively and positively related to athlete burnout, respectively. It is unknown, however, whether experiential avoidance functions as a mediator between mindfulness and athlete burnout. To address this gap, 387 elite Chinese junior athletes (M = 15.44 years, SD = 1.42) completed self-report measures of mindfulness, experiential avoidance, and athlete burnout. Findings provided cross-sectional evidence that experiential avoidance mediated the inverse association from mindfulness to each of the three burnout dimensions. No gender difference of these indirect effects was revealed. This study is the first to test the theoretical sequence in which mindfulness is associated with athlete burnout via experiential avoidance and provide additional support the adaptive nature of mindfulness.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)437-451
    Number of pages15
    JournalJournal of Applied Sport Psychology
    Volume28
    Issue number4
    Early online date6 May 2016
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2016

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • Applied Psychology

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