Associations with Athletic Engagement: A Meta-Analysis of the AEQ

Engaging in physical activity promotes many physical and mental health benefits. Sports participation is a unique method of achieving physical activity as individuals are more likely to be persistent with sports. The athlete engagement questionnaire (AEQ) measures athlete engagement, the proposed antithesis to athlete burnout. In addition to burnout, several other associations have been examined with athlete engagement, many of which conceptually would facilitate or harm athlete engagement. All Texas Tech University subscribed EBSCO databases were used to search for relevant articles. Inclusion criteria were any methodological design, a publication date after Lonsdale et al.'s (2007) initial AEQ validation, data appearing in a peer-reviewed journal, any dissertations that explicitly look at AEQ, and the use of a valid AEQ questionnaire. This meta-analysis uses random effect models to examine how athlete engagement is associated with athlete burnout and other adaptive or less-adaptive constructs. The overall association between athlete engagement and athlete burnout was large (r=-0.65). Effect sizes between athlete engagement and adaptive constructs (r=0.61) and athlete engagement and less-adaptive constructs (r=0.31) ranged from medium to large. These results demonstrate that athlete engagement is negatively associated with athlete burnout across studies and positively associated with an adaptive sports experience. Results should be interpreted in the presence of high heterogeneity. Still, sports administrators can use these findings to build an environment promoting athlete engagement and subsequent physical activity.

Embargo status: Restricted until 09/2173. To request the author grant access, click on the PDF link to the left.