Controlling Coaching Behaviors and Athlete Burnout: The Serial Indirect Associations via Psychological Need Thwarting and Compulsive Compliance

Controlling coaching has been identified as an adverse feature of the sport environment associated with athlete burnout, yet the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. Drawing on self-determination theory and a coping perspective, this study examined the associations among controlling coaching, psychological need thwarting, compulsive compliance, and athlete burnout, focusing on a serial indirect pathway from psychological experience to behavioral response. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 586 university student-athletes from Guangdong Province, China. Structural equation modeling and bias-corrected bootstrapping with 5000 resamples were used while controlling for gender, age, competitive level, years of sport-specific training, and sport type. Controlling coaching was positively associated with psychological need thwarting, compulsive compliance, and athlete burnout. The indirect association through psychological need thwarting was significant (B = 0.053, β = 0.069, 95% BC CI [0.012, 0.108]), and the serial indirect association through psychological need thwarting followed by compulsive compliance was also significant (B = 0.046, β = 0.060, 95% BC CI [0.025, 0.081]). The indirect association through compulsive compliance alone was not significant (B = 0.030, 95% BC CI [−0.001, 0.069]). The total indirect association accounted for 49.4% of the model-estimated total association. These findings highlight the roles of psychological need thwarting and compulsive compliance in the association between controlling coaching and athlete burnout and support need-supportive coaching practices.