{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T05:04:38Z","timestamp":1789362278414,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789344000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Athlete burnout is an important psychological state that may affect sustained training engagement, athletic performance, and mental health among elite soccer players. Drawing on basic psychological need theory, this study examined the association between organizational stressors and athlete burnout among Chinese elite soccer players with dual educational and sport-training roles, and tested whether basic psychological need frustration accounted for an indirect association and whether coach autonomy support served as a boundary condition.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 513 Chinese elite soccer student-athletes enrolled in the Football College of Chengdu Sport University. According to the college admission requirements and self-reported athletic-level information, all participants had attained at least the Chinese National First-Class Athlete level before or at university entry. Participants completed measures of organizational stressors, basic psychological need frustration, coach autonomy support, and athlete burnout. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, bootstrap tests of indirect associations, and a first-stage moderated mediation model.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Organizational stressors were positively associated with both athlete burnout and basic psychological need frustration. Basic psychological need frustration was positively associated with athlete burnout and accounted for a significant indirect association between organizational stressors and athlete burnout. Coach autonomy support showed a small but significant buffering effect on the association between organizational stressors and basic psychological need frustration, and the conditional indirect association through basic psychological need frustration was weaker at higher levels of coach autonomy support.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The findings suggest that athlete burnout among elite soccer players with dual educational and sport-training roles is closely associated with organizational stressors, and that basic psychological need frustration may help explain this statistical association. Coach autonomy support may constitute a contextual boundary condition that modestly reduces the association between organizational stressors and basic psychological need frustration. These results suggest that management of organizational stressors, basic psychological need experiences, and autonomy-supportive coaching behaviors may be relevant targets for future longitudinal and intervention research. Given the cross-sectional and self-reported nature of the data, the findings should be interpreted as theoretically specified statistical associations rather than evidence of strict causality.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1933382","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T04:38:18Z","timestamp":1789360698000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Organizational stressors and athlete burnout in elite soccer players: the mediating role of basic psychological need frustration and the moderating role of coach autonomy support"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Song","family":"Yuan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Football Academy, Chengdu Sport University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yunmei","family":"Chai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education, Chengdu Sport University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhibo","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Sports Training, Tianjin University of Sport","place":["Tianjin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Quanhong","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Sports Training, Chengdu Sport University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.1007\/s11031-008-9095-z","article-title":"Autonomy support, basic need satisfaction and the optimal functioning of adult male and female sport participants: A test of basic needs theory.","volume":"32","author":"Adie","year":"2008","journal-title":"Motiv. 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