Method: The study was limited female athletes at a Division I institution in the southeastern United States. Participants were solicited from the various female sports teams at the university. All participants volunteered to participate. The number of female athletes who completed the MBI was 115. Ages ranged from 19 to 24 (M= 19.8) and participants were current members of the basketball (n=15), cross country (n=8), golf (n=7), soccer (n=29), softball (n=17), tennis (n=3), track and field (n=19), and volleyball (n=17) teams.
Analysis/Results: A Pearson correlation was conducted for each of the three burnout scales (EE, PA, DP) and years of competition. A significant association was found between EE and years of competition (r(115)=.296,p=.001). No significance was found for competitive years and PA(r(115)=-.146,p=.118), nor competitive years and DP(r(115)=.160,p=.088).
Conclusions: Current findings differ from previous findings. Researches’ previous study indicated that years of sport competition are not correlated with levels of burnout in female Division I collegiate athletes. However, the current study revealed that athletes who have been competing for a greater number of years experienced a higher level of burnout on the MBI subscale of EE. Emotional exhaustion refers to a tired fatigued feeling that develops as an individual’s emotional energies are drained over time (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996). Therefore, based upon prior research and the results of the current study, future research should continue to study the effects of years of competition and burnout in order to truly understand its effects on athletes. Further, future research should examine male athlete’s levels of burnout as it relates to years of competition. Another potential area of study is to determine if those athletes who are less able to cope with the stressors of competition leave sports or if they “learn” to cope as they gain experience.