Protective factors of burnout among Norwegian sport coaches

The main purpose of the current study was to explore burnout and protective factors among elite sport coaches, more specifically how sex, perceived coach performance, grit, social competence and social resources was uniquely associated with coaches’ work-related, athlete-related, and personal-related burnout among Norwegian coaches in a variety of sports. A sample of 69 coaches were recruited from a Norwegian education coach program arranged by the Norwegian Olympic sport center (NOSC), a national Norwegian organization that is part of Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports. Three regression analysis’ revealed that burnout was predicted by grit and social resources. The models explained 46% (work-related burnout), 25% (athlete-related burnout), and 29% (personal-related burnout) of the variance. Neither sex, perceived coach performance nor social competence was statistically significant for any of the three models. The current study shows that both traits (grit) and states (social resources) have significant impact as protective factors towards burnout among sport coaches. These findings are expected and support previous research. The current results also show that the coaches’ perception of their own efficacy in the form of performance level or social competence have importance. These findings contrast previous research and need further scrutiny.