Investigating the Roles of Gender, Age, and Sport Characteristics on School and Sport Burnout in Finnish Lower Secondary School Student Athletes.

Abstract

School sport programs for lower secondary school in Finland (i.e., Grades 7-9) show great promise in helping student athletes prepare for careers in both sport and academic pursuits. However, it has also been found that participation in these programs is highly competitive and demanding and may result in poor mental health outcomes like burnout for some students. The purpose of the current study was to investigate how burnout in sport and school in Finnish lower secondary school students was associated with gender, age, training loads, level of competition, and sport type. A sample of 856 lower secondary school students (Grades 7-9, ages 13-15 years old) completed measures of sport and school burnout and provided information on their demographics and sport. Gender, age, training loads, level of competition, and sport type predicted a small but significant portion of variance in sport-related exhaustion, cynicism, and inadequacy, and in school-related exhaustion, but not school cynicism or inadequacy. Females and student athletes with higher training loads generally reported higher levels of burnout, while only a small number of effects related to age, competition level, and type of sport were observed. Lower secondary sports schools in Finland might aim to understand the difficulties encountered by student athletes, particularly females and those with higher training loads. This understanding can guide them in taking informed, practical measures to safeguard the mental health of these students and optimize their performance both academically and athletically.