Coach-athlete attachment and athlete burnout: testing longitudinal mediation via cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression

Abstract

ABSTRACT Athlete burnout is a psychological syndrome that leads to emotional and physical exhaustion, a reduced sense of achievement, and sport devaluation among athletes. Drawing on attachment theory and the emotion regulation model of attachment, this study aimed to explore the potential mechanism of the relationship between coach-athlete attachment and athlete burnout. We employed a two-wave longitudinal design method to track 352 adult athletes in China, from which 258 completed the entire data collection (Mage = 22.2; SD = 3.2 years; 68.2% male). Results of the cross-lagged panel model for a half-longitudinal design showed that secure attachment was negatively linked to athlete burnout through cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, and avoidant attachment was positively linked to athlete burnout through expressive suppression. Our study applies attachment theory to the literature on athlete burnout and emphasises the importance of emotion regulation. The findings encourage coaches and sports-related therapists to develop appropriate interventions targeting attachment style and cognitive reappraisal training to reduce the risk of athlete burnout.