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This spring, psychology major Meredith Smith '03 investigated the causes of burnout in adolescent and college athletes in independent research advised by John Shaw, assistant professor of psychology.
Examining journal articles and conducting interviews with students who no longer play varsity sports provided the former varsity athlete with personal insights. “While doing research on burnout, I was surprised to see how much of it explained my own experiences in a sport,” Smith says.
According to the student, burnout is caused mainly by stress and is “a downward spiraling circle.”
“Let's say it starts out with a poor performance. The athlete may not have lived up to her personal standards or the perceived standards of her coaches. This causes her to feel stress,” says Smith. “She may work harder at practice, fatiguing her body. Due to her fatigued physical condition, she may perform even worse, adding more stress. The stress causes her to tense her muscles, which negatively affects her performance. She becomes depressed because she is not performing well. Her interactions with others may suffer, and she may view her coach or parents as being insensitive. Her negative view of her coach may cause her to view practices as being too hard and unfair, which adds to the existing stress.”
“Eventually, the stress gets more and more overwhelming until she may develop burnout and hate the sport she once loved,” she explains.
Smith also studied how burnout can be treated and prevented. Self-talk, relaxation training, and stress inoculation training are some possible measures.
“Overall, I found this experience to be very rewarding, and I learned so much,” she says. “It has made me excited to learn more about burnout, stress, and other topics relating to sports psychology.”
Smith, who plans to study sports psychology in graduate school, is considering tracking the levels of burnout within a varsity sports team during different points in the season for her senior honors thesis.
“Lafayette has a supportive environment for independent studies. The school encourages you to expand your knowledge and presents a lot of academic opportunities,” she adds.
A graduate of Guilford High School, Smith is a member of Psi Chi, the national honor society for the study of psychology; psychology club; and Delta Gamma sorority. She is also a DJ for WJRH, the campus radio station.
Meredith Smith ’03 researched burnout in collegiate swimmers in a senior honors thesis under the guidance of John Shaw, associate professor of psychology.