Perfectionism and burnout in youth footballers: A three-wave longitudinal test of the mediating role of perfectionistic cognitions.

Perfectionism is related to burnout in youth athletes. This relationship may partly be due to entrenched patterns of perfectionistic thinking. Perfectionistic cognitions are automatic ruminative thoughts about the need to be perfect and are a common feature of the experiences of perfectionistic athletes. Two studies have found relationships among perfectionism, perfectionistic cognitions, and athlete burnout. However, no studies have examined whether perfectionistic cognitions mediate the relationship between trait perfectionism and burnout. Here, we propose to test a mediation model in a longitudinal manner with three waves of data and also examine the relationships at both within- and between-person levels.