Impacts of coaching style on athlete burnout among handball players in Tunisia: The mediating role of self-determined motivation

Abstract

Background: Using self- determined theory (Deci& Ryan, 1985), the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between coaching style and athlete burnout among handball players in Tunisia. Materials and Methods: Data were collected from 500 handball players (318 males / 184 females; mean age 22.5 years). The Data were obtained by using seven questionnaires including a socio demographic data, The French version of athlete Burnout Questionnaire, The French version of the sport motivation scale, Perceived autonomy toward life Domains Scale, Perceived Competence in life Domains Scale, a questionnaire adapted from the feelings of relatedness scale, and interpersonal behavior scale. Results: In the analysis of data, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), one- way ANOVA test and Pearson correlation coefficient were used. This study showed significant relationship between self-determined motivation, coaching style, need satisfaction and burnout.  Conclusion: This study implies that the coaches’ style might play a key role in avoiding the development of burnout.