The relationship between personality hardiness, stress, and burnout in selected collegiate athletes

The relationship between hardiness, stress and burnout has been established in occupational settings (Kelley, 1994; Talarico, 1989; Topf, 1989). This relationship has not been established with athletic populations, however. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between personality hardiness, perceived stress and burnout in a selected sample of collegiate athletes. Participants were 181 male (n=129) and female (n_=52) Division I athletes from three Midwestern universities representing four sports (baseball, softball, tennis and track). Each subject was asked to complete a survey - consisting of the Third Generation Hardiness Test, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory - during the regular season and at least 24 hours prior to an athletic contest. It was hypothesized that hardier athletes would report lower levels of perceived stress and burnout, and that higher levels of stress would be related to higher levels of burnout. Pearson product-moment correlations supported the hypothesized relationships.