Perfectionism, athlete burnout, and engagement: A five-month longitudinal test of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism

Abstract

Several studies have examined the associations between perfectionism, athlete burnout, and engagement. However, only one study investigated the interplay between personal standards and evaluative concerns perfectionism in predicting changes in athlete burnout over time. Whether the two dimensions of perfectionism interact to predict changes in sport engagement remains unknown. Thus, we used the framework of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism to investigate these effects in a sample of 173 athletes (85 females, 88 males, aged 18 to 39, M = 27.47, SD = 6.11) in two waves, five months apart. Personal standards perfectionism predicted decreases in all symptoms of burnout, except devaluation, and an increase in only one subscale of engagement - dedication. Contrastingly, evaluative concerns perfectionism predicted increases in two symptoms of burnout - exhaustion and reduced sense of accomplishment and decreases in all subscales of engagement. The findings suggest that the paths to alleviating negative and magnifying positive experiences in sport may not be fully aligned, thus different interventions may be most effective depending on the specific aim and athletes' individual profile of perfectionism.