Mindfulness and burnout in elite junior athletes: The mediating role of experiential avoidance

Chun-Qing ZHANG, Gangyan SI, Pak Kwong CHUNG, Daniel F. GUCCIARDI

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Previous research suggests that mindfulness and experiential avoidance are negatively and positively related to athlete burnout, respectively. It is unknown, however, whether experiential avoidance functions as a mediator between mindfulness and athlete burnout. To address this gap, 387 elite Chinese junior athletes (M = 15.44 years, SD = 1.42) completed self-report measures of mindfulness, experiential avoidance, and athlete burnout. Findings provided cross-sectional evidence that experiential avoidance mediated the inverse association from mindfulness to each of the three burnout dimensions. No gender difference of these indirect effects was revealed. This study is the first to test the theoretical sequence in which mindfulness is associated with athlete burnout via experiential avoidance and provide additional support the adaptive nature of mindfulness. Copyright © 2016 Association for Applied Sport Psychology.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)437-451
JournalJournal of Applied Sport Psychology
Volume28
Issue number4
Early online dateMay 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Citation

Zhang, C.-Q., Si, G., Chung, P.-K., & Gucciardi, D. F. (2016). Mindfulness and burnout in elite junior athletes: The mediating role of experiential avoidance. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 28(4), 437-451.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Mindfulness and burnout in elite junior athletes: The mediating role of experiential avoidance'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.