Achievement goal orientation and physical education learning burnout: A mediating model test

We applied achievement goal orientation theory to examine the relationship between university students’ achievement goal orientation and learning burnout in the physical education context, and the moderating effect of state boredom according to the difficulty of the teaching content. Participants comprised 406 general table tennis students. In the easy-content group, mastery proximity orientation and achievement proximity orientation had a significant negative impact on learning burnout, and mastery avoidance orientation and achievement avoidance orientation had a significant positive impact on learning burnout. In the challenging-content group, achievement proximity orientation, mastery avoidance orientation, and achievement avoidance orientation had a significant positive impact on learning burnout. Only mastery proximity orientation had a significant negative impact on learning burnout. Regardless of the level of difficulty of the teaching content, state boredom mediated the impact of achievement goal orientation on students’ learning burnout. This study enhances understanding of the process of physical education learning burnout.