The Relationship Between Self-Concept Clarity And Athlete Burnout In Swimmers:The Chain Mediating Role Of Mental Toughness And Engagement

Background:In recent years,events such as the suspension of games and disruption of the training cycle will cause a serious and long-term negative impact on swimmers,which makes athlete burnout occur frequently among swimmers.The State General Administration of Sport attaches great importance to this and has jointly launched various countermeasures to help athletes’ psychological adjustment.How to prevent and cure the athlete burnout of swimmers has become an urgent problem to be solved.It has been proved that self-concept clarity can enhance individual psychological adjustment ability and alleviate individual negative psychology while promoting individual positive psychology,but whether it has the same effect on athlete’s specific mental state remains to be seen.The study aims to explore the relationship between self-concept clarity,mental toughness,athlete engagement and athlete burnout,to investigate the role of self-concept clarity on athlete burnout and its mediating mechanism,and to provide a reference for the prevention and treatment of swimmers’ athlete burnout.Methods:The method of literature,questionnaire and mathematical statistics was used in this study.A total of 189 swimmers above second-level were selected as the survey objects,and the participants were investigated by Self-Concept Clarity Scale,Mental Toughness Inventory,Athlete Engagement Questionnaire and Athletes Burnout Questionnaire.SPSS 24.0 was used for descriptive statistics,correlation analysis,demographic difference test and regression analysis,and AMOS 24.0 was used for analysis and test of chain mediation model.Results:(1)There was a significant positive correlation between age and athlete burnout(p<0.01);There was a significant negative correlation between training years and mental toughness(p<0.01),and training years had a significant positive correlation with athlete burnout(p<0.01);The mental toughness(p<0.001)and athlete engagement(p<0.01)of male swimmers were significantly higher than that of female swimmers.(2)Self-concept clarity were positively correlated with mental toughness(p<0.01)and athlete engagement(p<0.01);Selfconcept clarity were negatively correlated with athlete burnout(p<0.01).(3)Self-concept clarity had a significant negative effect on physical and emotional exhaustion(β=-0.527,p<0.001),reduced sense of achievement(β=-0.515,p<0.001)and devaluation of sports practice(β=-0.433,p<0.001).(4)In the relationship between self-concept clarity and athlete burnout,the mediating effect of mental toughness was not significant(effect value=0.030,95%CI:0.043,0.107),but the mediating effect of athlete engagement(effect value=-0.098,95%CI:-0.178,-0.044)and the chain mediating effect(effect value=-0.127,95%CI:-0.211,-0.064)of mental toughness and athlete engagement were significant.Conclusion:Swimmers with longer training years and female swimmers tend to have lower mental toughness.Male swimmers have higher athlete engagement than female swimmers.The older swimmers and who with longer training years tend to have deeper athlete burnout.Self-concept clarity not only relieve athletes’ physical and emotional exhaustion,reduced sense of achievement and devaluation of sports practice,but also can promote the development of mental toughness of swimmers,enable them to obtain a higher level of athlete engagement,and thus reduce their degree of athlete burnout.