How stressful is retirement! Antecedents of stress linked to athletes’ career termination

A field study conducted with professional athletes (N=420¸ 72.2% men, Mage= 25.14) examined the antecedents of stress linked to career termination. We hypothesized that stress linked to career termination may be affected by the type of passion (harmonious and obsessive) athletes develop for their sport activity, and that this passion may be affected by regulatory mode orientations (locomotion and assessment) and need for closure (NFC). The present findings confirm our hypotheses that locomotion positively predict stress linked to career termination through a partial mediation of harmonious passion; while assessment and NFC negatively predict stress through the mediation of obsessive passion. In conclusion, this study provides further information to existing intervention programs aimed at preventing the negative consequences related to athletes’ career termination.