Burnout in Referees: Relations with Stress, Cognitive Appraisal, and Emotions

Abstract

Background: Referees assume an important role on sports activity because their decisions are highly scrutinized and can influence the results achieved by athletes and teams. However, referees are much less studied than athletes regarding the way they deal with and respond to stress factors. This study analysed how soccer referees adapted to a stressful situation by using a critical incident methodology of collecting data 24 to 48 hours before a game. For that, we established two goals and five hypotheses: goal 1) to describe the feelings of stress, cognitive appraisal, emotions, and burnout in referees; goal 2) to analyse the predictor value of stress, cognitive appraisal, and emotions in explaining the referees’ burnout experience. The five hypotheses tested were: higher levels of stress predict the referees’ tendency to burnout (H1), higher levels of threat perception and lower levels of challenge perception predict the referees’ tendency to burnout (H2); lower levels of coping perception and control perception predict the referees’ tendency to burnout (H3), higher levels of anxiety, dejection, and anger predict the referees’ tendency to burnout (H4), and lower levels of excitement and happiness predict the referees’ tendency to burnout (H5). Methods: The evaluation protocol included measures of stress, cognitive appraisal, emotions, and burnout. Participants were 394 soccer referees (males = 364; 90%), with a mean age of 27 years old (SD = 7.33). Results: Results indicated that burnout was predicted by these dimensions: higher levels of stress related to conflicts and family and personal life balance, higher levels of threat perception, lower levels of challenge perception, lower levels of coping perception, lower levels of happiness, and higher levels of anger. Conclusion: These results indicate that referees can benefit from participating in psychological programs that include stress management strategies directed to deal with the stress and negative emotions from competition.