Soghra Heidari
Professional sport is characterized by vigorous exercises, constant exposure to media, and fear of dismissal or injury which may lead to stress and chronic fatigue and ultimately burnout in athletes. Meanwhile, identifying gender differences in burnout is important in providing effective psychological services to athletes. Therefore, the present research examines gender differences in burnout in individual athletes. 185 track and field, shooting, wushu, karate, and taekwondo athletes (2.19 ± 4.78 years of age; 8.24 ± 6.07 years of athletic experience; 96 male and 89 female; 98 national and 87 international) were selected as sample using stratified random sampling. The subjects completed the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ). The data were analyzed using MANOVA and one-way ANOVA at the 95% confidence level. Reduced sense of accomplishment was higher than other dimensions of burnout in both men and women. Moreover, burnout in female athletes was significantly higher than male athletes in all its three dimensions, i.e. reduced sense of accomplishment, emotional exhaustion, and devaluation (p<0.01). The findings suggest that female athletes are more prone to burnout and its negative consequences than male athletes.
