Differences in the Level of Burnout between Recreational Boxers and Non-athletes

Abstract

Nowadays, stressful situations are occurring more and more frequently, even on a daily basis. The ongoing pandemic, the tense geopolitical situation, the economic crisis or the inflation are causing burnout syndrome in increasingly younger people. People are exposed to excessive work stress, scheduled tasks, financial insecurity and constant one-sided or psychological overload. The aim of the research is to find out and compare the level of three dimensions of burnout between recreational boxing employees and nonathletic employees using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. 266 different employees were included in the research group, who were divided into recreational boxers (n= 106) and nonathletes (n= 160). All participants were males. The research set of boxers consisted of employees of average age (26.9 ± 7.7 years) and average length of experience in the current job (4.1 ± 4.5 years), nonathletes consisted of employees of average age (25.3 ± 5.1 years) and the average length of experience in the current job (3.4 ± 2.5 years). In all three subscales, nonathletes showed statistically significant burnout compared to recreational boxers in the dimension emotional exhaustion (p ≤ .01; r= 0.66), depersonalization (p ≤ .01; r= 0.3), and personal accomplishment assessment (p ≤ .01; r= 0.22). The emotional exhaustion subscale points to alarming differences in the manifestations of burnout between physically active and passively active lifestyles of employees. As regards recreational boxers, newcomers can better adapt to new stress stimuli, which in turn affects their mental well-being, psychological state and work productivity. Our data indicate that practicing recreational boxing preempts development of burnout, reduces the negative impact of everyday emotional stress, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization.