ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1643356
The Impact of Abusive Supervision by Coaches on Athlete Burnout in Chinese Culture
Provisionally accepted
- 1Namseoul University, Cheonan-si, Republic of Korea
- 2Shinhan University, Uijeongbu-si, Republic of Korea
- 3Shandong Vocational and Technical University of International Studies, Rizhao, China
- 4Pukyong National University, Busan, Republic of Korea
- 5Taiyuan Institute of Technology, Taiyuan, China
- 6Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
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This study, based on self-determination theory, aims to explore the negative impact of abusive supervision by Chinese coaches on athlete burnout psychology by examining the mediating role of the coach-athlete relationship and the moderating role of trust. Reliable survey data were collected from 301 athletes at Chinese universities. The findings indicate that the coach-athlete relationship mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and helping behavior. Additionally, higher levels of cognitive trust positively moderated the mediation effect between abusive supervision and the coach-athlete relationship, while the effect of affective trust was not significant. This study provides critical empirical evidence and decision-making insights for Chinese sports authorities by revealing the potential harms of abusive coaching practices. The findings offer valuable support for the development of policies aimed at protecting athletes’ psychological well-being and optimizing the coach management system.
Keywords: Abusive supervision, Athlete burnout, Coach-athlete relationships, cognitive trust, affective trust
Received: 08 Jun 2025; Accepted: 02 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Li, Sun, Li, Li, Yan and Fu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Changliang Yan, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
Yuantai Fu, Pukyong National University, Busan, Republic of Korea
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