College Athletes and Romantic Relationship Conflict: The Moderating Effects of Sport-Relationship Conflict and Enrichment

Relationships that college athletes develop outside of their sports have the potential to positively and negatively impact sport, relationship, and mental health outcomes. Existing research focuses on the importance of the coach-athlete, parentathlete, and athlete-athlete dyads and suggests that these relationships affect athletes’ satisfaction and commitment to sport. However, few studies examine the influence of romantic relationships on these outcomes. This study, which is founded on work-family conflict and enrichment theories, used an experimental design to examine the moderating effects of sport-relationship conflict and enrichment on the relationship between romantic relationship conflict and athlete burnout, sport commitment, depression, and perceived respect from romantic partner (relationship respect). Division I college athletes (N = 114) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the experimental condition, participants were primed for relationship conflict, while participants in the control condition were given a neutral prime. Results of hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that sport-to-relationship conflict moderated the effect of relationship conflict on athlete burnout. The nature of the moderation was unanticipated; for participants with higher levels of sport-to-relationship conflict being primed for relationship conflict was associated with lower levels of burnout than being in the control condition. Results also revealed that athlete burnout and sport commitment were predicted by sport-to-relationship and relationship-to-sport conflict and enrichment. Depression was predicted by sport-to-relationship enrichment, and relationship respect was predicted by relationship-to-sport conflict and enrichment