Association Between Sport Specialization, Athlete Burnout, And Past Injury In High School Athletes

Abstract

With the rise in early sport specialization, understanding its psychological impacts on young athletes is increasingly important. PURPOSE: To determine whether sport specialization level, past injuries, or other demographic factors are associated with burnout symptoms among high school (HS) athletes. We hypothesized that athletes with high specialization level or a history of prior injuries would report increased burnout compared to peers with lower specialization level and those without past injuries. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional assessment of HS athletes who completed questionnaires during pre-participation physicals. The survey included the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) and Jayanthi sport specialization scale, as well as questions on injury history (stress fracture, concussion, time-loss orthopedic injuries), competition level (varsity or non-varsity) and weekly training hours. The primary dependent variable was total ABQ score. Our independent variables were low, medium, or high specialization level and history of time-loss orthopedic injury, stress fracture or concussion. RESULTS: 186 athletes completed the survey: 49% were categorized as low specialization (mean age=15.3±2.0 yrs; 50% female), 35% medium specialization (mean age=15.3±1.3 yrs; 47% female), and 16% high specialization (mean age=15.7±1.1 yrs; 57% female). The specialization groups did not significantly differ on their total ABQ scores (mean scores: low=29±7.6, medium=28.3±6.5, high=29.9±8.8; p=0.64). Athletes with prior orthopedic injuries had significantly higher ABQ scores than those without such history (30.6±6.8 vs 27.8±7.7; p=0.01). There were no differences in ABQ scores based on history of stress fractures (31.8±7.8 vs 28.7±7.4; p=0.17) or concussion (28.8±7.2 vs 28.9±7.2; p=0.94), or whether an athlete was currently ailing from an injury (29.1±7.5 vs 28.9±7.5; p=0.91). After covariate adjustment, history of orthopedic injury was significantly associated with higher ABQ scores (β=2.81; 95% CI 0.44 - 5.18; p=0.02). CONCLUSION: Prior history of time-loss orthopedic injuries, but not a HS athlete’s level of sport specialization, was associated with higher burnout symptoms.