Psychosocial Antecedents of Athlete Burnout in Black Student-athletes
Undergraduate: Makaela Jones
Faculty Advisor: J.D. DeFreese
Department: Exercise & Sport Science
Previous literature on Black student athletes points to their experiences being , at times, shaped by racism, discrimination, and racial inequities. Moreover, Black student-athletes graduate at lower rates than White student-athletes; however, Black student-athletes also make up over half of athletes participating in high-revenue sports. In addition to negative psychological factors facing this population, they also may be vulnerable to stress and stereotypes pertaining to their student-athlete status. Aims of the study are to determine if the negative impacts of racism and discrimination have an effect on their susceptibility to negative psychological sport outcomes, like athlete burnout. The study will include 50 active varsity or club Black student-athletes. Participants will take a survey battery measuring levels of athlete burnout, psychosocial factors (stress and social support), and identity (racial and athletic). It is hypothesized that race-related stress and sport-related stress will be positively associated with each other, as well as dimensions of athlete burnout. Secondly, social support will act as a buffer against the psychosocial stress-burnout relationship. Also, racial and athletic identity will be examined as exploratory variables such that each hypothesis may be moderated by identity. If bi-variate correlations support a relationship between athlete burnout and markers of psychological health, it is possible that Black student-athletes may not be receiving