psychology research topics about sports

50 Best Sports Psychology Research Topics

When it comes to selecting sports psychology research topics, it might seem like a challenging task in the eyes of many students. But once you choose a topic from our list and master the tricks of writing a professional research paper, you present yourself as an expert researcher in no time.

What makes a sports psychologist proficient? Sports psychology requires a proficient application of psychological knowledge and skills to address athletes’ most favorable performance and well-being. When studying psychology, your lecturers require you to be skilled and creative in writing and presenting research findings.

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Best Sports Psychology Topics

Are you looking for the best sports psychology research topics? We have some recommendations for you.

Historical and modern perspective of sports psychology
How to utilize and improve sports psychology for better customer experience in a sports merchandise store
Importance of employing sports psychologists in elite sports
Role of sports psychology and nutrition in musculoskeletal injuries in professional rugby
Scientific application in sports psychology in sports
Sports psychology and health: Strategies for creating a healthy and high-performance workplace
Sports psychology in your local football or soccer league
Sports psychology perspective on the importance of motivation in increases success
Sports psychology: An essential aspect for athletes success
Sports psychology: how to deal with fatigue

Excellent Sports Psychology Research Topics

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Application of Artificial Intelligence in sports psychology
Application of psychophysiology in sports psychology
Personality dimensions in sports psychology
Psychological factors affecting physical performance and sports
Role of sports psychology in individual development in sports
Sports psychology in police training: Building understanding across all police disciplines
Sports psychology in your country: Review of sports psychology journals
Sports psychology perspective of anxiety
Sports psychology perspective of electronic sports
The role of sports psychology in controlling obesity

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Analysis and visualization of anxiety in final football matches
Case study: Relationship between competitive anxiety and mental toughness
Effects of temperament and anxiety on sports performance
How do anxiety and ego depletion affect sports performance?
Impact of spectator behavior on individual player’s psychology
Impact of spectator behavior on team performance
Managing anxiety levels in sports performance
Sports psychology perspective: Measuring anxiety in sports
Understanding fear and anxiety management in extreme sports
Use of music in mental training

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Challenges of gender studies in sport psychology
Compare and contrast anxiety and self-confidence between a team and individual sports at your college
Controlling fans aggression
Dealing with negative stereotypes in sports: Women soccer
Mental toughness and sports competition anxiety for male and female MMA fighters
Psychological and physiological impacts of doping in sports
Relationship between arousal-anxiety and sports behavior
Sports psychology: Children anxiety in sports
Sports psychology: Effects of racial abuse on athletes
Volitional regulation and motivation of young boxers

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Application of sports psychology in goal setting
Effectiveness of psychological intervention during a long-term sports injury rehabilitation
Literature review: Impacts of physical activity in the treatment of depression
Neuropsychology of sports rehabilitation
Organizations support mechanisms for soccer players in major leagues. How does league organization affect performance?
Social factors affecting sports performance in your country
Sports psychology: Anxiety and emotions of women in sports
Systematic review: How do skiers manage stress and anxiety before a competition?
The role of imagery in sports performance
Theoretical aspects of motivation in sports rehabilitation

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What We’ve Learned Through Sports Psychology Research

Scientists are probing the head games that influence athletic performance, from coaching to coping with pressure

Tom Siegfried, Knowable Magazine

Since the early years of this century, it has been commonplace for computerized analyses of athletic statistics to guide a baseball manager’s choice of pinch hitter, a football coach’s decision to punt or pass, or a basketball team’s debate over whether to trade a star player for a draft pick.

But many sports experts who actually watch the games know that the secret to success is not solely in computer databases, but also inside the players’ heads. So perhaps psychologists can offer as much insight into athletic achievement as statistics gurus do.

Sports psychology has, after all, been around a lot longer than computer analytics. Psychological studies of sports appeared as early as the late 19th century. During the 1970s and ’80s, sports psychology became a fertile research field. And within the last decade or so, sports psychology research has exploded as scientists have explored the nuances of everything from the pursuit of perfection to the harms of abusive coaching.

“Sport pervades cultures, continents and indeed many facets of daily life,” write Mark Beauchamp, Alan Kingstone and Nikos Ntoumanis, authors of an overview of sports psychology research in the 2023 Annual Review of Psychology .

Their review surveys findings from nearly 150 papers investigating various psychological influences on athletic performance and success. “This body of work sheds light on the diverse ways in which psychological processes contribute to athletic strivings,” the authors write. Such research has the potential not only to enhance athletic performance, they say, but also to provide insights into psychological influences on success in other realms, from education to the military. Psychological knowledge can aid competitive performance under pressure, help evaluate the benefit of pursuing perfection and assess the pluses and minuses of high self-confidence.

Confidence and choking

In sports, high self-confidence (technical term: elevated self-efficacy belief) is generally considered to be a plus. As baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan once said, “You have to have a lot of confidence to be successful in this game.” Many a baseball manager would agree that a batter who lacks confidence against a given pitcher is unlikely to get to first base.

And a lot of psychological research actually supports that view, suggesting that encouraging self-confidence is a beneficial strategy. Yet while confident athletes do seem to perform better than those afflicted with self-doubt, some studies hint that for a given player, excessive confidence can be detrimental. Artificially inflated confidence, unchecked by honest feedback, may cause players to “fail to allocate sufficient resources based on their overestimated sense of their capabilities,” Beauchamp and colleagues write. In other words, overconfidence may result in underachievement.

Other work shows that high confidence is usually most useful in the most challenging situations (such as attempting a 60-yard field goal), while not helping as much for simpler tasks (like kicking an extra point).

Of course, the ease of kicking either a long field goal or an extra point depends a lot on the stress of the situation. With time running out and the game on the line, a routine play can become an anxiety-inducing trial by fire. Psychological research, Beauchamp and co-authors report, has clearly established that athletes often exhibit “impaired performance under pressure-invoking situations” (technical term: “choking”).

In general, stress impairs not only the guidance of movements but also perceptual ability and decision-making. On the other hand, it’s also true that certain elite athletes perform best under high stress. “There is also insightful evidence that some of the most successful performers actually seek out, and thrive on, anxiety-invoking contexts offered by high-pressure sport,” the authors note. Just ask Michael Jordan or LeBron James.

Many studies have investigated the psychological coping strategies that athletes use to maintain focus and ignore distractions in high-pressure situations. One popular method is a technique known as the “quiet eye.” A basketball player attempting a free throw is typically more likely to make it by maintaining “a longer and steadier gaze” at the basket before shooting, studies have demonstrated.

“In a recent systematic review of interventions designed to alleviate so-called choking, quiet-eye training was identified as being among the most effective approaches,” Beauchamp and co-authors write.

Another common stress-coping method is “self-talk,” in which players utter instructional or motivational phrases to themselves in order to boost performance. Saying “I can do it” or “I feel good” can self-motivate a marathon runner, for example. Saying “eye on the ball” might help a baseball batter get a hit.

Researchers have found moderate benefits of self-talk strategies for both novices and experienced athletes, Beauchamp and colleagues report. Various studies suggest that self-talk can increase confidence, enhance focus, control emotions and initiate effective actions.

Moderate performance benefits have also been reported for other techniques for countering stress, such as biofeedback, and possibly meditation and relaxation training.

“It appears that stress regulation interventions represent a promising means of supporting athletes when confronted with performance-related stressors,” Beauchamp and co-authors conclude.

Pursuing athletic perfection

Of course, sports psychology encompasses many other issues besides influencing confidence and coping with pressure. Many athletes set a goal of attaining perfection, for example, but such striving can induce detrimental psychological pressures. One analysis found that athletes pursuing purely personal high standards generally achieved superior performance. But when perfectionism was motivated by fear of criticism from others, performance suffered.

Similarly, while some coaching strategies can aid a player’s performance, several studies have shown that abusive coaching can detract from performance, even for the rest of an athlete’s career.

Beauchamp and his collaborators conclude that a large suite of psychological factors and strategies can aid athletic success. And these factors may well be applicable to other areas of human endeavor where choking can impair performance (say, while performing brain surgery or flying a fighter jet).

But the authors also point out that researchers shouldn’t neglect the need to consider that in sports, performance is also affected by the adversarial nature of competition. A pitcher’s psychological strategies that are effective against most hitters might not fare so well against Shohei Ohtani, for instance.

Besides that, sports psychology studies (much like computer-based analytics ) rely on statistics. As Adolphe Quetelet, a pioneer of social statistics, emphasized in the 19th century, statistics do not define any individual—average life expectancy cannot tell you when any given person will die. On the other hand, he noted, no single exceptional case invalidates the general conclusions from sound statistical analysis.

Sports are, in fact, all about the quest of the individual (or a team) to defeat the opposition. Success often requires defying the odds—which is why gambling on athletic events is such a big business. Sports consist of contests between the averages and the exceptions, and neither computer analytics nor psychological science can tell you in advance who is going to win. That’s why they play the games.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Sport psychology and performance meta-analyses: A systematic review of the literature

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, United States of America, Education Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

Roles Data curation, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Psychological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, United States of America

Roles Data curation, Methodology

Roles Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management, Honors College, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, United States of America

Roles Data curation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Faculty of Education, Health and Well-Being, University of Wolverhampton, Walsall, West Midlands, United Kingdom

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Division of Research & Innovation, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

Marc Lochbaum,
Elisabeth Stoner,
Tristen Hefner,
Sydney Cooper,
Andrew M. Lane,
Peter C. Terry

Published: February 16, 2022
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263408
Peer Review
Reader Comments

Sport psychology as an academic pursuit is nearly two centuries old. An enduring goal since inception has been to understand how psychological techniques can improve athletic performance. Although much evidence exists in the form of meta-analytic reviews related to sport psychology and performance, a systematic review of these meta-analyses is absent from the literature. We aimed to synthesize the extant literature to gain insights into the overall impact of sport psychology on athletic performance. Guided by the PRISMA statement for systematic reviews, we reviewed relevant articles identified via the EBSCOhost interface. Thirty meta-analyses published between 1983 and 2021 met the inclusion criteria, covering 16 distinct sport psychology constructs. Overall, sport psychology interventions/variables hypothesized to enhance performance (e.g., cohesion, confidence, mindfulness) were shown to have a moderate beneficial effect ( d = 0.51), whereas variables hypothesized to be detrimental to performance (e.g., cognitive anxiety, depression, ego climate) had a small negative effect ( d = -0.21). The quality rating of meta-analyses did not significantly moderate the magnitude of observed effects, nor did the research design (i.e., intervention vs. correlation) of the primary studies included in the meta-analyses. Our review strengthens the evidence base for sport psychology techniques and may be of great practical value to practitioners. We provide recommendations for future research in the area.

Citation: Lochbaum M, Stoner E, Hefner T, Cooper S, Lane AM, Terry PC (2022) Sport psychology and performance meta-analyses: A systematic review of the literature. PLoS ONE 17(2): e0263408. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263408

Editor: Claudio Imperatori, European University of Rome, ITALY

Received: September 28, 2021; Accepted: January 18, 2022; Published: February 16, 2022

Copyright: © 2022 Lochbaum et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper.

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

Sport performance matters. Verifying its global importance requires no more than opening a newspaper to the sports section, browsing the internet, looking at social media outlets, or scanning abundant sources of sport information. Sport psychology is an important avenue through which to better understand and improve sport performance. To date, a systematic review of published sport psychology and performance meta-analyses is absent from the literature. Given the undeniable importance of sport, the history of sport psychology in academics since 1830, and the global rise of sport psychology journals and organizations, a comprehensive systematic review of the meta-analytic literature seems overdue. Thus, we aimed to consolidate the existing literature and provide recommendations for future research.

The development of sport psychology

The history of sport psychology dates back nearly 200 years. Terry [ 1 ] cites Carl Friedrich Koch’s (1830) publication titled [in translation] Calisthenics from the Viewpoint of Dietetics and Psychology [ 2 ] as perhaps the earliest publication in the field, and multiple commentators have noted that sport psychology experiments occurred in the world’s first psychology laboratory, established by Wilhelm Wundt at the University of Leipzig in 1879 [ 1 , 3 ]. Konrad Rieger’s research on hypnosis and muscular endurance, published in 1884 [ 4 ] and Angelo Mosso’s investigations of the effects of mental fatigue on physical performance, published in 1891 [ 5 ] were other early landmarks in the development of applied sport psychology research. Following the efforts of Koch, Wundt, Rieger, and Mosso, sport psychology works appeared with increasing regularity, including Philippe Tissié’s publications in 1894 [ 6 , 7 ] on psychology and physical training, and Pierre de Coubertin’s first use of the term sport psychology in his La Psychologie du Sport paper in 1900 [ 8 ]. In short, the history of sport psychology and performance research began as early as 1830 and picked up pace in the latter part of the 19 th century. Early pioneers, who helped shape sport psychology include Wundt, recognized as the “father of experimental psychology”, Tissié, the founder of French physical education and Legion of Honor awardee in 1932, and de Coubertin who became the father of the modern Olympic movement and founder of the International Olympic Committee.

Sport psychology flourished in the early 20 th century [see 1, 3 for extensive historic details]. For instance, independent laboratories emerged in Berlin, Germany, established by Carl Diem in 1920; in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia, established respectively by Avksenty Puni and Piotr Roudik in 1925; and in Champaign, Illinois USA, established by Coleman Griffith, also in 1925. The period from 1950–1980 saw rapid strides in sport psychology, with Franklin Henry establishing this field of study as independent of physical education in the landscape of American and eventually global sport science and kinesiology graduate programs [ 1 ]. In addition, of great importance in the 1960s, three international sport psychology organizations were established: namely, the International Society for Sport Psychology (1965), the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (1966), and the European Federation of Sport Psychology (1969). Since that time, the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (1986), the South American Society for Sport Psychology (1986), and the Asian-South Pacific Association of Sport Psychology (1989) have also been established.

The global growth in academic sport psychology has seen a large number of specialist publications launched, including the following journals: International Journal of Sport Psychology (1970), Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology (1979), The Sport Psychologist (1987), Journal of Applied Sport Psychology (1989), Psychology of Sport and Exercise (2000), International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (2003), Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology (2007), International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology (2008), Journal of Sport Psychology in Action (2010), Sport , Exercise , and Performance Psychology (2014), and the Asian Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology (2021).

In turn, the growth in journal outlets has seen sport psychology publications burgeon. Indicative of the scale of the contemporary literature on sport psychology, searches completed in May 2021 within the Web of Science Core Collection, identified 1,415 publications on goal setting and sport since 1985; 5,303 publications on confidence and sport since 1961; and 3,421 publications on anxiety and sport since 1980. In addition to academic journals, several comprehensive edited textbooks have been produced detailing sport psychology developments across the world, such as Hanrahan and Andersen’s (2010) Handbook of Applied Sport Psychology [ 9 ], Schinke, McGannon, and Smith’s (2016) International Handbook of Sport Psychology [ 10 ], and Bertollo, Filho, and Terry’s (2021) Advancements in Mental Skills Training [ 11 ] to name just a few. In short, sport psychology is global in both academic study and professional practice.

Meta-analysis in sport psychology

Several meta-analysis guides, computer programs, and sport psychology domain-specific primers have been popularized in the social sciences [ 12 , 13 ]. Sport psychology academics have conducted quantitative reviews on much studied constructs since the 1980s, with the first two appearing in 1983 in the form of Feltz and Landers’ meta-analysis on mental practice [ 14 ], which included 98 articles dating from 1934, and Bond and Titus’ cross-disciplinary meta-analysis on social facilitation [ 15 ], which summarized 241 studies including Triplett’s (1898) often-cited study of social facilitation in cycling [ 16 ]. Although much meta-analytic evidence exists for various constructs in sport and exercise psychology [ 12 ] including several related to performance [ 17 ], the evidence is inconsistent. For example, two meta-analyses, both ostensibly summarizing evidence of the benefits to performance of task cohesion [ 18 , 19 ], produced very different mean effects ( d = .24 vs d = 1.00) indicating that the true benefit lies somewhere in a wide range from small to large. Thus, the lack of a reliable evidence base for the use of sport psychology techniques represents a significant gap in the knowledge base for practitioners and researchers alike. A comprehensive systematic review of all published meta-analyses in the field of sport psychology has yet to be published.

Purpose and aim

We consider this review to be both necessary and long overdue for the following reasons: (a) the extensive history of sport psychology and performance research; (b) the prior publication of many meta-analyses summarizing various aspects of sport psychology research in a piecemeal fashion [ 12 , 17 ] but not its totality; and (c) the importance of better understanding and hopefully improving sport performance via the use of interventions based on solid evidence of their efficacy. Hence, we aimed to collate and evaluate this literature in a systematic way to gain improved understanding of the impact of sport psychology variables on sport performance by construct, research design, and meta-analysis quality, to enhance practical knowledge of sport psychology techniques and identify future lines of research inquiry. By systematically reviewing all identifiable meta-analytic reviews linking sport psychology techniques with sport performance, we aimed to evaluate the strength of the evidence base underpinning sport psychology interventions.

Materials and methods

This systematic review of meta-analyses followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines [ 20 ]. We did not register our systematic review protocol in a database. However, we specified our search strategy, inclusion criteria, data extraction, and data analyses in advance of writing our manuscript. All details of our work are available from the lead author. Concerning ethics, this systematic review received a waiver from Texas Tech University Human Subject Review Board as it concerned archival data (i.e., published meta-analyses).

Eligibility criteria

Published meta-analyses were retained for extensive examination if they met the following inclusion criteria: (a) included meta-analytic data such as mean group, between or within-group differences or correlates; (b) published prior to January 31, 2021; (c) published in a peer-reviewed journal; (d) investigated a recognized sport psychology construct; and (e) meta-analyzed data concerned with sport performance. There was no language of publication restriction. To align with our systematic review objectives, we gave much consideration to study participants and performance outcomes. Across multiple checks, all authors confirmed study eligibility. Three authors (ML, AL, and PT) completed the final inclusion assessments.

Information sources

Authors searched electronic databases, personal meta-analysis history, and checked with personal research contacts. Electronic database searches occurred in EBSCOhost with the following individual databases selected: APA PsycINFO, ERIC, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and SPORTDiscus. An initial search concluded October 1, 2020. ML, AL, and PT rechecked the identified studies during the February–March, 2021 period, which resulted in the identification of two additional meta-analyses [ 21 , 22 ].

Search protocol

ML and ES initially conducted independent database searches. For the first search, ML used the following search terms: sport psychology with meta-analysis or quantitative review and sport and performance or sport* performance. For the second search, ES utilized a sport psychology textbook and used the chapter title terms (e.g., goal setting). In EBSCOhost, both searches used the advanced search option that provided three separate boxes for search terms such as box 1 (sport psychology), box 2 (meta-analysis), and box 3 (performance). Specific details of our search strategy were:

Search by ML:

sport psychology, meta-analysis, sport and performance
sport psychology, meta-analysis or quantitative review, sport* performance
sport psychology, quantitative review, sport and performance
sport psychology, quantitative review, sport* performance

Search by ES:

mental practice or mental imagery or mental rehearsal and sports performance and meta-analysis
goal setting and sports performance and meta-analysis
anxiety and stress and sports performance and meta-analysis
competition and sports performance and meta-analysis
diversity and sports performance and meta-analysis
cohesion and sports performance and meta-analysis
imagery and sports performance and meta-analysis
self-confidence and sports performance and meta-analysis
concentration and sports performance and meta-analysis
athletic injuries and sports performance and meta-analysis
overtraining and sports performance and meta-analysis
children and sports performance and meta-analysis

The following specific search of the EBSCOhost with SPORTDiscus, APA PsycINFO, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and ERIC databases, returned six results from 2002–2020, of which three were included [ 18 , 19 , 23 ] and three were excluded because they were not meta-analyses.

Box 1 cohesion
Box 2 sports performance
Box 3 meta-analysis

Study selection

As detailed in the PRISMA flow chart ( Fig 1 ) and the specified inclusion criteria, a thorough study selection process was used. As mentioned in the search protocol, two authors (ML and ES) engaged independently with two separate searches and then worked together to verify the selected studies. Next, AL and PT examined the selected study list for accuracy. ML, AL, and PT, whilst rating the quality of included meta-analyses, also re-examined all selected studies to verify that each met the predetermined study inclusion criteria. Throughout the study selection process, disagreements were resolved through discussion until consensus was reached.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263408.g001

Data extraction process

Initially, ML, TH, and ES extracted data items 1, 2, 3 and 8 (see Data items). Subsequently, ML, AL, and PT extracted the remaining data (items 4–7, 9, 10). Checks occurred during the extraction process for potential discrepancies (e.g., checking the number of primary studies in a meta-analysis). It was unnecessary to contact any meta-analysis authors for missing information or clarification during the data extraction process because all studies reported the required information. Across the search for meta-analyses, all identified studies were reported in English. Thus, no translation software or searching out a native speaker occurred. All data extraction forms (e.g., data items and individual meta-analysis quality) are available from the first author.

To help address our main aim, we extracted the following information from each meta-analysis: (1) author(s); (2) publication year; (3) construct(s); (4) intervention based meta-analysis (yes, no, mix); (5) performance outcome(s) description; (6) number of studies for the performance outcomes; (7) participant description; (8) main findings; (9) bias correction method/results; and (10) author(s) stated conclusions. For all information sought, we coded missing information as not reported.

Individual meta-analysis quality

ML, AL, and PT independently rated the quality of individual meta-analysis on the following 25 points found in the PRISMA checklist [ 20 ]: title; abstract structured summary; introduction rationale, objectives, and protocol and registration; methods eligibility criteria, information sources, search, study selection, data collection process, data items, risk of bias of individual studies, summary measures, synthesis of results, and risk of bias across studies; results study selection, study characteristics, risk of bias within studies, results of individual studies, synthesis of results, and risk of bias across studies; discussion summary of evidence, limitations, and conclusions; and funding. All meta-analyses were rated for quality by two coders to facilitate inter-coder reliability checks, and the mean quality ratings were used in subsequent analyses. One author (PT), having completed his own ratings, received the incoming ratings from ML and AL and ran the inter-coder analysis. Two rounds of ratings occurred due to discrepancies for seven meta-analyses, mainly between ML and AL. As no objective quality categorizations (i.e., a point system for grouping meta-analyses as poor, medium, good) currently exist, each meta-analysis was allocated a quality score of up to a maximum of 25 points. All coding records are available upon request.

Planned methods of analysis

Several preplanned methods of analysis occurred. We first assessed the mean quality rating of each meta-analysis based on our 25-point PRISMA-based rating system. Next, we used a median split of quality ratings to determine whether standardized mean effects (SMDs) differed by the two formed categories, higher and lower quality meta-analyses. Meta-analysis authors reported either of two different effect size metrics (i.e., r and SMD); hence we converted all correlational effects to SMD (i.e., Cohen’s d ) values using an online effect size calculator ( www.polyu.edu.hk/mm/effectsizefaqs/calculator/calculator.html ). We interpreted the meaningfulness of effects based on Cohen’s interpretation [ 24 ] with 0.20 as small, 0.50 as medium, 0.80 as large, and 1.30 as very large. As some psychological variables associate negatively with performance (e.g., confusion [ 25 ], cognitive anxiety [ 26 ]) whereas others associate positively (e.g., cohesion [ 23 ], mental practice [ 14 ]), we grouped meta-analyses according to whether the hypothesized effect with performance was positive or negative, and summarized the overall effects separately. By doing so, we avoided a scenario whereby the demonstrated positive and negative effects canceled one another out when combined. The effect of somatic anxiety on performance, which is hypothesized to follow an inverted-U relationship, was categorized as neutral [ 35 ]. Last, we grouped the included meta-analyses according to whether the primary studies were correlational in nature or involved an intervention and summarized these two groups of meta-analyses separately.

Study characteristics

Table 1 contains extracted data from 30 meta-analyses meeting the inclusion criteria, dating from 1983 [ 14 ] to 2021 [ 21 ]. The number of primary studies within the meta-analyses ranged from three [ 27 ] to 109 [ 28 ]. In terms of the description of participants included in the meta-analyses, 13 included participants described simply as athletes, whereas other meta-analyses identified a mix of elite athletes (e.g., professional, Olympic), recreational athletes, college-aged volunteers (many from sport science departments), younger children to adolescents, and adult exercisers. Of the 30 included meta-analyses, the majority ( n = 18) were published since 2010. The decadal breakdown of meta-analyses was 1980–1989 ( n = 1 [ 14 ]), 1990–1999 ( n = 6 [ 29 – 34 ]), 2000–2009 ( n = 5 [ 23 , 25 , 26 , 35 , 36 ]), 2010–2019 ( n = 12 [ 18 , 19 , 22 , 27 , 37 – 43 , 48 ]), and 2020–2021 ( n = 6 [ 21 , 28 , 44 – 47 ]).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263408.t001

As for the constructs covered, we categorized the 30 meta-analyses into the following areas: mental practice/imagery [ 14 , 29 , 30 , 42 , 46 , 47 ], anxiety [ 26 , 31 , 32 , 35 ], confidence [ 26 , 35 , 36 ], cohesion [ 18 , 19 , 23 ], goal orientation [ 22 , 44 , 48 ], mood [ 21 , 25 , 34 ], emotional intelligence [ 40 ], goal setting [ 33 ], interventions [ 37 ], mindfulness [ 27 ], music [ 28 ], neurofeedback training [ 43 ], perfectionism [ 39 ], pressure training [ 45 ], quiet eye training [ 41 ], and self-talk [ 38 ]. Multiple effects were generated from meta-analyses that included more than one construct (e.g., tension, depression, etc. [ 21 ]; anxiety and confidence [ 26 ]). In relation to whether the meta-analyses included in our review assessed the effects of a sport psychology intervention on performance or relationships between psychological constructs and performance, 13 were intervention-based, 14 were correlational, two included a mix of study types, and one included a large majority of cross-sectional studies ( Table 1 ).

A wide variety of performance outcomes across many sports was evident, such as golf putting, dart throwing, maximal strength, and juggling; or categorical outcomes such as win/loss and Olympic team selection. Given the extensive list of performance outcomes and the incomplete descriptions provided in some meta-analyses, a clear categorization or count of performance types was not possible. Sufficient to conclude, researchers utilized many performance outcomes across a wide range of team and individual sports, motor skills, and strength and aerobic tasks.

Effect size data and bias correction

To best summarize the effects, we transformed all correlations to SMD values (i.e., Cohen’s d ). Across all included meta-analyses shown in Table 2 and depicted in Fig 2 , we identified 61 effects. Having corrected for bias, effect size values were assessed for meaningfulness [ 24 ], which resulted in 15 categorized as negligible (< ±0.20), 29 as small (±0.20 to < 0.50), 13 as moderate (±0.50 to < 0.80), 2 as large (±0.80 to < 1.30), and 1 as very large (≥ 1.30).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263408.g002

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263408.t002

Study quality rating results and summary analyses

Following our PRISMA quality ratings, intercoder reliability coefficients were initially .83 (ML, AL), .95 (ML, PT), and .90 (AL, PT), with a mean intercoder reliability coefficient of .89. To achieve improved reliability (i.e., r mean > .90), ML and AL re-examined their ratings. As a result, intercoder reliability increased to .98 (ML, AL), .96 (ML, PT), and .92 (AL, PT); a mean intercoder reliability coefficient of .95. Final quality ratings (i.e., the mean of two coders) ranged from 13 to 25 ( M = 19.03 ± 4.15). Our median split into higher ( M = 22.83 ± 1.08, range 21.5–25, n = 15) and lower ( M = 15.47 ± 2.42, range 13–20.5, n = 15) quality groups produced significant between-group differences in quality ( F 1,28 = 115.62, p < .001); hence, the median split met our intended purpose. The higher quality group of meta-analyses were published from 2015–2021 (median 2018) and the lower quality group from 1983–2014 (median 2000). It appears that meta-analysis standards have risen over the years since the PRISMA criteria were first introduced in 2009. All data for our analyses are shown in Table 2 .

Table 3 contains summary statistics with bias-corrected values used in the analyses. The overall mean effect for sport psychology constructs hypothesized to have a positive impact on performance was of moderate magnitude ( d = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.42, 0.58, n = 36). The overall mean effect for sport psychology constructs hypothesized to have a negative impact on performance was small in magnitude ( d = -0.21, 95% CI -0.31, -0.11, n = 24). In both instances, effects were larger, although not significantly so, among meta-analyses of higher quality compared to those of lower quality. Similarly, mean effects were larger but not significantly so, where reported effects in the original studies were based on interventional rather than correlational designs. This trend only applied to hypothesized positive effects because none of the original studies in the meta-analyses related to hypothesized negative effects used interventional designs.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263408.t003

In this systematic review of meta-analyses, we synthesized the available evidence regarding effects of sport psychology interventions/constructs on sport performance. We aimed to consolidate the literature, evaluate the potential for meta-analysis quality to influence the results, and suggest recommendations for future research at both the single study and quantitative review stages. During the systematic review process, several meta-analysis characteristics came to light, such as the number of meta-analyses of sport psychology interventions (experimental designs) compared to those summarizing the effects of psychological constructs (correlation designs) on performance, the number of meta-analyses with exclusively athletes as participants, and constructs featuring in multiple meta-analyses, some of which (e.g., cohesion) produced very different effect size values. Thus, although our overall aim was to evaluate the strength of the evidence base for use of psychological interventions in sport, we also discuss the impact of these meta-analysis characteristics on the reliability of the evidence.

When seen collectively, results of our review are supportive of using sport psychology techniques to help improve performance and confirm that variations in psychological constructs relate to variations in performance. For constructs hypothesized to have a positive effect on performance, the mean effect strength was moderate ( d = 0.51) although there was substantial variation between constructs. For example, the beneficial effects on performance of task cohesion ( d = 1.00) and self-efficacy ( d = 0.82) are large, and the available evidence base for use of mindfulness interventions suggests a very large beneficial effect on performance ( d = 1.35). Conversely, some hypothetically beneficial effects (2 of 36; 5.6%) were in the negligible-to-small range (0.15–0.20) and most beneficial effects (19 of 36; 52.8%) were in the small-to-moderate range (0.22–0.49). It should be noted that in the world of sport, especially at the elite level, even a small beneficial effect on performance derived from a psychological intervention may prove the difference between success and failure and hence small effects may be of great practical value. To put the scale of the benefits into perspective, an authoritative and extensively cited review of healthy eating and physical activity interventions [ 49 ] produced an overall pooled effect size of 0.31 (compared to 0.51 for our study), suggesting sport psychology interventions designed to improve performance are generally more effective than interventions designed to promote healthy living.

Among hypothetically negative effects (e.g., ego climate, cognitive anxiety, depression), the mean detrimental effect was small ( d = -0.21) although again substantial variation among constructs was evident. Some hypothetically negative constructs (5 of 24; 20.8%) were found to actually provide benefits to performance, albeit in the negligible range (0.02–0.12) and only two constructs (8.3%), both from Lochbaum and colleagues’ POMS meta-analysis [ 21 ], were shown to negatively affect performance above a moderate level (depression: d = -0.64; total mood disturbance, which incorporates the depression subscale: d = -0.84). Readers should note that the POMS and its derivatives assess six specific mood dimensions rather than the mood construct more broadly, and therefore results should not be extrapolated to other dimensions of mood [ 50 ].

Mean effects were larger among higher quality than lower quality meta-analyses for both hypothetically positive ( d = 0.54 vs d = 0.45) and negative effects ( d = -0.25 vs d = 0.17), but in neither case were the differences significant. It is reasonable to assume that the true effects were derived from the higher quality meta-analyses, although our conclusions remain the same regardless of study quality. Overall, our findings provide a more rigorous evidence base for the use of sport psychology techniques by practitioners than was previously available, representing a significant contribution to knowledge. Moreover, our systematic scrutiny of 30 meta-analyses published between 1983 and 2021 has facilitated a series of recommendations to improve the quality of future investigations in the sport psychology area.

Recommendations

The development of sport psychology as an academic discipline and area of professional practice relies on using evidence and theory to guide practice. Hence, a strong evidence base for the applied work of sport psychologists is of paramount importance. Although the beneficial effects of some sport psychology techniques are small, it is important to note the larger performance benefits for other techniques, which may be extremely meaningful for applied practice. Overall, however, especially given the heterogeneity of the observed effects, it would be wise for applied practitioners to avoid overpromising the benefits of sport psychology services to clients and perhaps underdelivering as a result [ 1 ].

The results of our systematic review can be used to generate recommendations for how the profession might conduct improved research to better inform applied practice. Much of the early research in sport psychology was exploratory and potential moderating variables were not always sufficiently controlled. Terry [ 51 ] outlined this in relation to the study of mood-performance relationships, identifying that physical and skills factors will very likely exert a greater influence on performance than psychological factors. Further, type of sport (e.g., individual vs. team), duration of activity (e.g., short vs. long duration), level of competition (e.g., elite vs. recreational), and performance measure (e.g., norm-referenced vs. self-referenced) have all been implicated as potential moderators of the relationship between psychological variables and sport performance [ 51 ]. To detect the relatively subtle effects of psychological effects on performance, research designs need to be sufficiently sensitive to such potential confounds. Several specific methodological issues are worth discussing.

The first issue relates to measurement. Investigating the strength of a relationship requires the measured variables to be valid, accurate and reliable. Psychological variables in the meta-analyses we reviewed relied primarily on self-report outcome measures. The accuracy of self-report data requires detailed inner knowledge of thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Research shows that the accuracy of self-report information is subject to substantial individual differences [ 52 , 53 ]. Therefore, self-report data, at best, are an estimate of the measure. Measurement issues are especially relevant to the assessment of performance, and considerable measurement variation was evident between meta-analyses. Some performance measures were more sensitive, especially those assessing physical performance relative to what is normal for the individual performer (i.e., self-referenced performance). Hence, having multiple baseline indicators of performance increases the probability of identifying genuine performance enhancement derived from a psychological intervention [ 54 ].

A second issue relates to clarifying the rationale for how and why specific psychological variables might influence performance. A comprehensive review of prerequisites and precursors of athletic talent [ 55 ] concluded that the superiority of Olympic champions over other elite athletes is determined in part by a range of psychological variables, including high intrinsic motivation, determination, dedication, persistence, and creativity, thereby identifying performance-related variables that might benefit from a psychological intervention. Identifying variables that influence the effectiveness of interventions is a challenging but essential issue for researchers seeking to control and assess factors that might influence results [ 49 ]. A key part of this process is to use theory to propose the mechanism(s) by which an intervention might affect performance and to hypothesize how large the effect might be.

A third issue relates to the characteristics of the research participants involved. Out of convenience, it is not uncommon for researchers to use undergraduate student participants for research projects, which may bias results and restrict the generalization of findings to the population of primary interest, often elite athletes. The level of training and physical conditioning of participants will clearly influence their performance. Highly trained athletes will typically make smaller gains in performance over time than novice athletes, due to a ceiling effect (i.e., they have less room for improvement). For example, consider runner A, who takes 20 minutes to run 5km one week but 19 minutes the next week, and Runner B who takes 30 minutes one week and 25 minutes the next. If we compare the two, Runner A runs faster than Runner B on both occasions, but Runner B improved more, so whose performance was better? If we also consider Runner C, a highly trained athlete with a personal best of 14 minutes, to run 1 minute quicker the following week would almost require a world record time, which is clearly unlikely. For this runner, an improvement of a few seconds would represent an excellent performance. Evidence shows that trained, highly motivated athletes may reach performance plateaus and as such are good candidates for psychological skills training. They are less likely to make performance gains due to increased training volume and therefore the impact of psychological skills interventions may emerge more clearly. Therefore, both test-retest and cross-sectional research designs should account for individual difference variables. Further, the range of individual difference factors will be context specific; for example, individual differences in strength will be more important in a study that uses weightlifting as the performance measure than one that uses darts as the performance measure, where individual differences in skill would be more important.

A fourth factor that has not been investigated extensively relates to the variables involved in learning sport psychology techniques. Techniques such as imagery, self-talk and goal setting all require cognitive processing and as such some people will learn them faster than others [ 56 ]. Further, some people are intuitive self-taught users of, for example, mood regulation strategies such as abdominal breathing or listening to music who, if recruited to participate in a study investigating the effects of learning such techniques on performance, would respond differently to novice users. Hence, a major challenge when testing the effects of a psychological intervention is to establish suitable controls. A traditional non-treatment group offers one option, but such an approach does not consider the influence of belief effects (i.e., placebo/nocebo), which can either add or detract from the effectiveness of performance interventions [ 57 ]. If an individual believes that, an intervention will be effective, this provides a motivating effect for engagement and so performance may improve via increased effort rather than the effect of the intervention per se.

When there are positive beliefs that an intervention will work, it becomes important to distinguish belief effects from the proposed mechanism through which the intervention should be successful. Research has shown that field studies often report larger effects than laboratory studies, a finding attributed to higher motivation among participants in field studies [ 58 ]. If participants are motivated to improve, being part of an active training condition should be associated with improved performance regardless of any intervention. In a large online study of over 44,000 participants, active training in sport psychology interventions was associated with improved performance, but only marginally more than for an active control condition [ 59 ]. The study involved 4-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson narrating both the intervention and active control using motivational encouragement in both conditions. Researchers should establish not only the expected size of an effect but also to specify and assess why the intervention worked. Where researchers report performance improvement, it is fundamental to explain the proposed mechanism by which performance was enhanced and to test the extent to which the improvement can be explained by the proposed mechanism(s).

Limitations

Systematic reviews are inherently limited by the quality of the primary studies included. Our review was also limited by the quality of the meta-analyses that had summarized the primary studies. We identified the following specific limitations; (1) only 12 meta-analyses summarized primary studies that were exclusively intervention-based, (2) the lack of detail regarding control groups in the intervention meta-analyses, (3) cross-sectional and correlation-based meta-analyses by definition do not test causation, and therefore provide limited direct evidence of the efficacy of interventions, (4) the extensive array of performance measures even within a single meta-analysis, (5) the absence of mechanistic explanations for the observed effects, and (6) an absence of detail across intervention-based meta-analyses regarding number of sessions, participants’ motivation to participate, level of expertise, and how the intervention was delivered. To ameliorate these concerns, we included a quality rating for all included meta-analyses. Having created higher and lower quality groups using a median split of quality ratings, we showed that effects were larger, although not significantly so, in the higher quality group of meta-analyses, all of which were published since 2015.

Conclusions

Journals are full of studies that investigate relationships between psychological variables and sport performance. Since 1983, researchers have utilized meta-analytic methods to summarize these single studies, and the pace is accelerating, with six relevant meta-analyses published since 2020. Unquestionably, sport psychology and performance research is fraught with limitations related to unsophisticated experimental designs. In our aggregation of the effect size values, most were small-to-moderate in meaningfulness with a handful of large values. Whether these moderate and large values could be replicated using more sophisticated research designs is unknown. We encourage use of improved research designs, at the minimum the use of control conditions. Likewise, we encourage researchers to adhere to meta-analytic guidelines such as PRISMA and for journals to insist on such adherence as a prerequisite for the acceptance of reviews. Although such guidelines can appear as a ‘painting by numbers’ approach, while reviewing the meta-analyses, we encountered difficulty in assessing and finding pertinent information for our study characteristics and quality ratings. In conclusion, much research exists in the form of quantitative reviews of studies published since 1934, almost 100 years after the very first publication about sport psychology and performance [ 2 ]. Sport psychology is now truly global in terms of academic pursuits and professional practice and the need for best practice information plus a strong evidence base for the efficacy of interventions is paramount. We should strive as a profession to research and provide best practices to athletes and the general community of those seeking performance improvements.

Supporting information

S1 checklist..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263408.s001

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the work of all academics since Koch in 1830 [ 2 ] for their efforts to research and promote the practice of applied sport psychology.

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What We’ve Learned Through Sports Psychology Research

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What Is Sports Psychology? 9 Scientific Theories & Examples

And maintaining focus when your team is behind and heading into the final few minutes of the game requires mental toughness.

Sports are played by the body and won in the mind, says sports psychologist Aidan Moran (2012).

To provide an athlete with the mental support they need, a sports psychologist considers the individual’s feelings, thoughts, perceived obstacles, and behavior in training, competition, and their lives beyond.

This article introduces some of the key concepts, research, and theory behind sports psychology and its ability to optimize performance.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients create actionable goals and master techniques to create lasting behavior change.

This Article Contains:

What is sports psychology, 4 real-life examples, 5 theories and facts of sports psychology, why is sports psychology important, brief history of sports psychology, top 4 sports psychology podcasts, positivepsychology.com’s helpful resources, a take-home message.

“Sport psychology is about understanding the performance, mental processes, and wellbeing of people in sporting settings, taking into account psychological theory and methods.”

Meijen, 2019

Sports psychology is now widely accepted as offering a crucial edge over competitors. And while essential for continuing high performance in elite athletes, it also provides insights into optimizing functioning in areas of our lives beyond sports.

As a result, psychological processes and mental wellbeing have become increasingly recognized as vital to consistently high degrees of sporting performance for athletes at all levels where the individual is serious about pushing their limits.

Indeed, as cognitive scientist Massimiliano Cappuccio (2018) writes, “physical training and exercise are not sufficient to excel in competition.” Instead, key elements of the athlete’s mental preparation must be “perfectly tuned for the challenge.”

For example, in recent research attempting to understand endurance limits , psychological variables have been confirmed as the deciding factor in ceasing effort rather than muscular fatigue (Meijen, 2019). The brain literally limits the body.

Beyond endurance, mental processes are equally crucial in other aspects of sporting success, such as maintaining focus, overcoming injury, dealing with failure, and handling success.

As psychologists, we can help competitors enhance their performance by “providing advice on how to be their best when it matters most” (Moran, 2012).

Pushing from within

As long ago as 2008, Tiger Woods confirmed the importance of his mental strength and ability to push himself from within (Moran, 2012):

“It’s not about what other people think and what other people say. It’s about what you want to accomplish and do you want to go out there and be prepared to beat everyone you play or face?”

And golf experts agree. While Tiger Woods’s natural gifts are self-evident, you can never count him out when he is losing, because of his robust mindset. He is always prepared and always has a plan (Bastable, 2020).

Vision and the right mindset will overcome

When sports scientist and motivational expert Greg Whyte met Eddie Izzard, the British comedian didn’t even own a pair of running shoes. Yet Whyte had six weeks to prepare her for the monumental challenge of running 43 consecutive marathons.

Vision, belief, science-led training, psychological support, and Izzard’s epic degree of determination were the essential ingredients that resulted in success (Whyte, 2015).

Reframing arousal

When sports psychologist John Kremer was approached by an international sprinter complaining that pre-race anxiety was impacting his races, he took time to understand what he was experiencing and how it felt.

Kremer helped reframe the athlete’s perception of his pounding heart from stress negatively affecting his performance to being primed and ready for competition (Kremer, Moran, & Kearney, 2019).

Visualizing success

Diver Laura Wilkinson broke three bones in her foot in the lead-up to the U.S. trials for the 2000 Olympics.

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Sports psychology is not one theory, but the combination of many overlapping ideas and concepts that attempt to understand what it takes to be a successful athlete.

Indeed, in many sports, endurance in particular, there has been a move toward more multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, looking at the interactions between psychological, biomechanical, physiological, genetic, and training aspects of performance (Meijen, 2019).

With that in mind, and considering the many psychological constructs affecting performance in sports, the following areas are some of the most widely studied:

Mental toughness
Goal setting
Anxiety and arousal

1. Mental toughness

Coaches and athletes recognize mental toughness as a psychological construct vital for performance success in training and competition (Gucciardi, Peeling, Ducker, & Dawson, 2016).

Mental toughness helps maintain consistency in determination, focus, and perceived control while under competitive pressure (Jones, Hanton, & Connaughton, 2002).

While much of the early work on mental toughness relied on the conceptual understanding of the related concepts of resilience and hardiness, reaching an agreed upon definition has proven difficult (Sutton, 2019).

Mentally tough athletes are highly competitive, committed, self-motivated , and able to cope effectively and maintain concentration in high-pressure situations. They retain a high degree of self-belief even after setbacks and persist when the going gets tough (Crust & Clough, 2005; Clough & Strycharczyk, 2015).

After interviewing sports professionals competing at an international level, Jones et al. (2002) found that being mentally tough takes an unshakeable self-belief in the ability to achieve goals and the capacity and determination to bounce back from performance setbacks.

Mental toughness determines “how people deal effectively with challenges, stressors, and pressure… irrespective of circumstances” (Crust & Clough, 2005). It is made up of four components, known to psychologists as the “four Cs”:

Feeling in control when confronted with obstacles and difficult situations
Commitment to goals
Confidence in abilities and interpersonal skills
Seeing challenges as opportunities

For athletes and sportspeople, mental toughness provides an advantage over opponents, enabling them to cope better with the demands of physical activity.

Beyond that, mental toughness allows individuals to manage stress better, overcome challenges, and perform optimally in everyday life.

2. Motivation

Motivation has been described as what maintains, sustains, directs, and channels behavior over an extended amount of time (Ryan & Deci, 2017). While it applies in all areas of life requiring commitment, it is particularly relevant in sports.

Not only does motivation impact an athlete’s ability to focus and achieve sporting excellence, but it is essential for the initial adoption and ongoing continuance of training (Sutton, 2019).

While there are several theories of motivation, the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has proven one of the most popular (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2017).

Based on our inherent tendency toward growth, SDT suggests that activity is most likely when an individual feels intrinsically motivated, has a sense of volition over their behavior, and the activity feels inherently interesting and appealing.

Optimal performance in sports and elsewhere occurs when three basic needs are met: relatedness, competence, and autonomy (Ryan & Deci, 2017).

3. Goal setting and focus

Setting goals is an effective way to focus on the right activities, increase commitment, and energize the individual (Clough & Strycharczyk, 2015).

Goal setting is also “associated with increased wellbeing and represents an individual’s striving to achieve personal self-change, enhanced meaning, and purpose in life” (Sheard, 2013).

A well-constructed goal can provide a mechanism to motivate the individual toward that goal. And something big can be broken down into a set of smaller, more manageable tasks that take us nearer to achieving the overall goal (Clough & Strycharczyk, 2015).

Athletes can use goals to focus and direct attention toward actions that will lead to specific improvements; for example, a swimmer improves their kick to take 0.5 seconds off a 100-meter butterfly time or a runner increases their speed out of the blocks in a 100 meter sprint.

Goal setting can define challenging but achievable outcomes, whatever your sporting level or skills.

A specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound (SMART) goal should be clear, realistic, and possible. For example, a runner may set the following goal:

Next year, I want to run the New York City Marathon in three hours by completing a six-month training schedule provided by a coach .

4. Anxiety and arousal

Under extreme pressure and in situations perceived as important, athletes may perform worse than expected. This is known as choking and is typically caused by being overly anxious (Kremer et al., 2019).

Such anxiety can have cognitive (erratic thinking), physical (sweating, over-breathing), and behavioral (pacing, tensing, rapid speech) outcomes. It typically concerns something that is not currently happening, such as an upcoming race (Moran, 2012).

It is important to distinguish anxiety from arousal . The latter refers to a type of bodily energy that prepares us for action. It involves deep psychological and physiological activation, and is valuable in sports.

Therefore, if psychological and physiological activation is on a continuum from deep sleep to intense excitement , the sportsperson must aim for a perceived sweet spot to perform at their best. It will differ wildly between competitors; for one, it may be perceived as unpleasant anxiety, for another, nervous excitement.

The degree of anxiety is influenced by (Moran, 2012):

Perceived importance of the event
Trait anxiety
Attributing outcomes to internal or external factors
Perfectionism – setting impossibly high standards
Fear of failure
Lack of confidence

While the competitor needs a degree of pressure (or arousal) and nervous energy to perform at their best, too much may cause them to crumble. Sports psychologists work with sportspeople to better understand the pressure and help manage it through several techniques including:

Visualization
Breathing and slowing down
Sticking to pre-performance routines

Ultimately, it may not be the amount of arousal that affects performance, but its interpretation.

5. Confidence

While lack of confidence is an essential factor in competition anxiety, it also plays a crucial role in mental toughness.

As Gaelic footballer Michael Nolan says, “it’s not who we are that holds us back; it’s who we think we’re not” (Clough & Strycharczyk, 2015).

Confidence is ultimately a measure of how much self-belief we have to see through to the end something beset with setbacks.

Those with a high degree of self-confidence will recognize that obstacles are part of life and take them in stride. Those less confident may believe the world is set against them and feel defeated or prevented from completing their task (Clough & Strycharczyk, 2015).

Self-confidence also taps into other, similar self-regulatory beliefs such as staying positive and maintaining self-belief (Sheard, 2013). An athlete high in self-confidence will harness their degree of self-belief and meet the challenge head on.

However, there are risks associated with being too self-confident. Overconfidence in abilities can lead to taking on too much, intolerance, and the inability to see underdeveloped skills.

And yet, that can only ever be part of the success story.

Sports place tremendous pressure on the competitor’s mind in competition and in training, and that pressure must be supported by robust and reliable psychological constructs (Kumar & Shirotriya, 2010).

The abilities to maintain focus under such pressure and also control actions during extreme circumstances of uncertainty can be strengthened by the mental training and skills a sports psychologist provides.

Mental preparation helps ready the individual and team for competition and offers an edge over an adversary while optimizing performance.

Not only that, but the skills learned in sports psychology are transferable; we can take them to other domains such as education and the workplace.

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz (2018) recognized the parallels between achieving “sustained high performance in the face of ever-increasing pressure and rapid change” in the workplace and on the sports field.

Perhaps the earliest known formal study of the mental processes involved in sports can be attributed to Triplett in 1898.

Triplett explored the positive effect of having other competitors to race against in the new sport of cycling. He found that the presence of others enhances the performance of well-learned skills.

In the decades that followed, the focus turned to a range of sports, including archery and baseball, with the first dedicated psychology research center called the Athletic Research Laboratory set up at the University of Illinois in 1925.

It wasn’t until the 1960s that sports psychology formally emerged as a distinct discipline from psychology, specifically with the International Society of Sport Psychology in 1965. However, it wasn’t until 1986 that sports psychology had its own division in the American Psychology Association (Moran, 2012).

The following recommendations all engage with professional psychologists, coaches, and competitors to provide psychological theory and practical guidance:

Mental Preparation Secrets of Top Athletes, Entertainers, and Surgeons In this episode of Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast, Dan McGinn talks about how top performers in sports and the world of business “prepare for their big moments.”
Science of Ultra A podcast that explores the psychology and physiology of endurance through fascinating conversations with scientists, psychologists, trainers, coaches, and athletes.
The Sport Psych Show‬‬‬ Sports psychologist Dan Adams takes listeners on a journey to demystify the psychological tools and techniques available to drive sporting participation and performance.
Sports Psychology Podcast by Peaksports.com‬‬‬ Patrick Cohn helps athletes, coaches, and sports parents understand how to adopt the right mindset to improve confidence and boost performance.

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Sports Psychology Books Another great way to get a better understanding of Sports Psychology, is to read recommended books. Our article listing the top 20 Sports Psychology Books is the perfect place to start.
Sports Psychology Techniques & Tips Explore these Sports Psychology techniques and tips that can help athletes up their game, overcome obstacles, and deliver peak performances.
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Becoming an elite performer results from years of careful planning and hard work. The winners get to the top by identifying, defining, and achieving a series of smaller goals along the way to reaching the podium.

But being at that level takes sustainable motivation and the ability to remain calm under considerable pressure. Successful performance requires the right mindset and psychological tools to allow the sportsperson to overcome both defeat and success. Neither of which is easy.

Modern athletes (professional and amateur), coaches, and team managers recognize the challenges within their sport and the competitive edge gained from seeking sports psychologists’ help.

Time-crunched athletes require focused, pragmatic support and solutions that allow them to deliver a consistent high-quality performance.

Even in the world outside the sporting arena, we are all competing. Understanding the psychological mechanisms involved in overcoming obstacles, hitting our goals, and achieving success is invaluable.

As academic philosopher David Papineau writes, many have come to realize that “sporting prowess has much to teach us about the workings of our minds” (Cappuccio, 2018).

Review the examples, theories, and approaches introduced in this article, and consider how they can benefit performance at any level of competition and be applied to manage stress, overcome obstacles, and improve performance.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free .

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Cappuccio, M. (2018). Handbook of embodied cognition and sport psychology . MIT Press.
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Gucciardi, D. F., Peeling, P., Ducker, K. J., & Dawson, B. (2016). When the going gets tough: Mental toughness and its relationship with behavioural perseverance. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport , 19 (1), 81–86.
Jones, G., Hanton, S., & Connaughton, D (2002). What is this thing called mental toughness? An investigation with elite performers. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology , 14 , 211–224.
Kremer, J., Moran, A. P., & Kearney, C. J. (2019). Pure sport: Practical sport psychology . Routledge.
Kumar, P., & Shirotriya, A. K. (2010). ‘Sports psychology’ a crucial ingredient for athletes success: Conceptual view. British Journal of Sports Medicine , 44 (Suppl_1), i55–i56.
Loehr, J., & Schwartz, T. (2018). The making of a corporate athlete. In HBR’s 10 must reads: On mental toughness . Harvard Business Review Press.
Meijen, C. (2019). Endurance performance in sport: Psychological theory and interventions . Routledge.
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Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness . Guilford Press.
Sheard, M. (2013). Mental toughness: The mindset behind sporting achievement . Routledge.
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Triplett, N. (1898). The dynamogenic factors in pacemaking and competition. The American Journal of Psychology , 9 (4), 507–533.
Whyte, G. P. (2015). Achieve the impossible: How to overcome challenges and gain success in life, work and sport . Bantam Press.

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Hello, my name is Ali, and I have a question about something. I graduated last year from the Faculty of Physical Education in my country, Egypt, Helwan University, and I got a bachelor’s degree with excellent grades. I was majoring in sports psychology. I am really interested and very passionate about this field. The articles I read helped me in fact. On this site about this specialization, it increases my desire to stick to work in this field, but I am currently facing a problem, which is I do not know where to start specifically, should I complete postgraduate academic studies in this specialty until I get at least a master’s degree in order to work in clubs As a sports psychologist? Or do I apply directly to one of the clubs and ask to work as a sports psychologist in it? And with which team, in particular, or in what sport? What are the required conditions and qualifications that allow me to work in this field? What are the types of books that I should read in order to improve my cognitive, scientific and applied skills in this field? Thank you very much

Yes, if you want to become a registered psychologist in any discipline, you will need to complete a Master’s degree. You’ll need to do this before you can work as a psychologist in the field. You can learn more about the process in this article , and also in our digital guidebook on becoming a therapist (which also covers what’s involved in becoming a psychologist).

We also have a dedicated blog post full of sport psychology book recommendations here . I imagine once you’ve gone through a sports psychology Master’s program and done further reading, you may discover which specific sports and teams you are most likely to enjoy working with — ultimately that decision is up to you!

Hope these materials help.

– Nicole | Community Manager

Do you think this translates to a 1:1 with digital athletes (like in esports)? Or do you think the physical athlete’s connection with physical exercise during competition may change the way this type of anxiety is dealtwith?

That’s a great question! I can’t give you a clear answer as research in this space is still very much new and emerging. However, at face value, I think many of the components here do equally apply to esports. For instance, it is just as important to set effective goals and manage anxiety/arousal in esports as it is in traditional sports.

As you note, however, mechanisms for effective goal-setting, management of anxiety, etc. may be different from traditional sports, as they may not rely on the mind-body connection in the same way, or draw more on cognitive resources and capabilities.

For a review that sets the stage for research in this space, definitely check out Pedraza-Ramirez et al. (2020) .

Hope this helps a little!

Hi am a Nigerian students of physical and health education my question is what are d criteria to work as a physiotherapist after study physical and health education

Hi Abigial,

The laws re: practicing as a physiotherapist will vary depending on country and state, so could you please let me know where you were hoping to practice? Then I can point you in the direction of some advice.

How can we use sports psychology to motivate people to get moving again outside, especially because of Covid-19? Can the answer/s also encourage society to create new gender neutral sports that keeps players separate without hands or head touching shared equipment? Can the lack of exercise be a big contributing factor why some students are not doing so well with Covid-19 forced remote learning?

Sounds like this post inspired some big questions for you! And I’ve no doubt the nature of sports around the world is likely to change in the wake of the pandemic. Early thinking seems to suggest that the impact of COVID on people’s exercise habits (and flow-on effects to things like study and mental health) depends somewhat on people’s preferred sports. E.g., this article suggests that, due to the nature of restrictions, cyclists, runners, etc. are well catered for, but those used to doing other sports may not be. A search for ‘exercise covid’ in Google Scholar will reveal some other interesting and emerging research in this space if you’d like to read more.

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Articles on Sport psychology

Displaying 1 - 20 of 44 articles.

Siya Kolisi: the South African rugby star’s story offers valuable lessons in resilience

Tinashe Timothy Harry , Nelson Mandela University

The Ashes: how England cricket’s head coach Brendon McCullum developed his ‘Bazball’ style

David Turner , Anglia Ruskin University and Matt Jewiss , Anglia Ruskin University

Harry Kane is Tottenham and England’s top goal scorer – sports scientists explain his brilliance

Matt Jewiss , Anglia Ruskin University and Harley-Jean Simpson , Anglia Ruskin University

New study reveals gender bias in sport research. It’s yet another hurdle to progress in women’s sport

Courtney C Walton , The University of Melbourne ; Caroline Gao , The University of Melbourne , and Simon Rice , The University of Melbourne

Eddie Betts’ camp saga highlights a motivational industry rife with weird, harmful ideas

Ben Farr-Wharton , Edith Cowan University ; Matthew Xerri , Griffith University , and Yvonne Brunetto , Southern Cross University

Dizzying highs and crushing lows: is being a sports fan good or bad for you?

Melissa Fothergill , Newcastle University

What Olympic athletes can teach us about regulating our emotions and staying dedicated

Thomas Hannan , Griffith University

Record-setting performances at the Tokyo Olympics come after months of pandemic-induced stress

Angela Schneider , Western University

Why fans cover their faces when football players take penalties – a psychologist explains

Dr Gillian Cook , Liverpool John Moores University

We studied mental toughness in ultra-marathon runners. Mind over matter is real — but won’t take you all the way

Kendall George , University of the Sunshine Coast

What South Africa’s top cricketers have to say about quotas

Mary Ann Dove , University of Cape Town

Rugby referees are quitting. It’s time to show some compassion

Mikel Mellick , Cardiff Metropolitan University

Playing without fear of the outcome: a psychologist tells us what we can learn from the success of the Richmond Tigers

Amy Dawel , Australian National University

Women’s World Cup: choking under pressure is common – here’s how to avoid it

Dr Robin Jackson , Loughborough University

Andy Murray: breaking away from sport’s ‘no pain, no gain’ culture

Francesca Cavallerio , Anglia Ruskin University

The Japanese art of kintsugi and how it can help with defeat in sport

Brad Elphinstone , Swinburne University of Technology and Richard Whitehead , Swinburne University of Technology

World Cup: dialling down pressure makes England victory more likely

Martin J Turner , Staffordshire University

The day Australian cricket lost its integrity and a country reacted with shock and anger

Peter Terry , University of Southern Queensland

Why Olympic athletes ‘choke’ at the Winter Games

Nicole W. Forrester , Toronto Metropolitan University

The agony of defeat: How Olympians can deal with failure

Kent Kowalski , University of Saskatchewan and Leah Ferguson , University of Saskatchewan

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Digital journalism coordinator, Monash University

Principal Lecturer in Athlete Mental Health, Cardiff Metropolitan University

Academic Fellow & Psychologist, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne

Professor in Sport and Learning, University of Wolverhampton

Lecturer, Faculty of Business, Sport and Enterprise, Solent University

Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science (Sport Psychology), Anglia Ruskin University

Lecturer in Sport Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast

Senior Lecturer in Sport & Fitness, The Open University

Lecturer in Sport and Fitness, The Open University

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Institute of Sport, Exercise & Active Living (ISEAL), Victoria University

Associate Professor in Sport Psychology, MSc Psychology of Sport Programme Director, and Deputy Head of Sport, University of Stirling

Associate Professor & Clinical Psychologist, Mental Health in Elite Sports, The University of Melbourne

Professor of Psychology, University of Southern Queensland

PhD Researcher, Nature and Function of Human Nonverbal Vocalisations, University of Sussex

Associate Professor in Sport and Exercise Psychology, University of Canberra

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Sports psychology research paper topics, dr. wilson mn.

August 3, 2022
Essay Topics and Ideas , Samples

The article provides a list of over 40 best and interesting Sports Psychology Research Paper Topics . Also provides a guide on factors to consider when selecting a Sports Psychology Research Paper Topics .

Psychology is an interdisciplinary field that deals with a wide range of issues and concerns. If you want to create a top-notch psychology research paper, you need to pick a topic that interests you.

Let’s start with a few pointers to keep in mind before diving into the rest of the material.

The first stage of a successful study is to come up with a research topic. There are many psychology-related research subjects to choose from, but narrowing them down can be time-consuming.

As soon as you understand the subject, everything else will fall into place.

If you’re going to do research, you’d be wise to begin planning months in advance. There is plenty of time to review and narrow down your topical ideas this way.

You can also check out 140+ Good Argumentative Essay Topics Psychology

What You'll Learn

Factors to Consider When Choosing Psychology Research Paper Topics

Scope . A good psychology research topic would have a reasonable and balanced scope.

If your topic is too broad, your ideas will be all over the place. Again, a narrow topic will limit your psychological research .

Revolving around just a few ideas robs your study of its value.

Relevance . A psychology paper is meant to educate and solve societal problems. It is advisable to go for a topic that touches on trending social issues.

This way, your study will spark curiosity in your audience and cause them to follow through.

Personal interests and values. Psychology is broad and touches on real-life issues.

For you to thrive in psychological research, choose a topic that is of interest to you.

Also, consider an area of study that doesn’t contradict your values so that you can handle it freely.

Sports Psychology Research Ideas for College Students
What impact does positive reinforcement over interval training techniques in improving competitive performance in professional matches?
Why do certain sports like soccer, football, and rugby have more athletes that have or will be accused of a violent crime?
Are certain pain medicines used to treat professional athletes negatively impacting their perception of the sports in which they play?
How do cheerleader and band support the psychology of a high school or college-level student-athlete? Is this true across all sports?
Does a sound physical and mental training program reduce the tendency for athletes to reduce the desire to be aggressive or violent?
Does a sound physical and mental training program reduce the tendencies for athletes to reduce the desire to aggressive or violent?

Sports Psychology Research Ideas for Grad Students

What is the relationship between the speed and accuracy with which an athlete visually respond to stimuli and the ability to react with movement?
What mental effects do sport nutrition supplements in the way an athlete prepares for contest? Do supplements take on a “placebo effect”?
Are there psychological differences when participating in international sporting events versus domestic sporting events?
What psychological impact does a coach have on a team’s success? Is a well-known coach more likely to have a positive or negative impact? How do players react to each kind of coach?
Are young coaches feeling pressure to win within a certain timeline and does this affect how players perform? Do they put themselves at risk of injury by feeling pressured?
How can sports psychology help in the process of building team chemistry and support among teammates working towards a common goal?
How do athletes manage their emotions when they participate regularly in sports? What happens when the emotions are negatively charged (i.e., a boxer)?
How has sports psychology evolved in the last twenty years? What do you see in the way it will continue to develop and how it will affect the way athletes, coaches, etc., approach sports?
What mental effects do sports nutrition supplements on the way an athlete prepares for the contest? Do supplements take on a “placebo effect”?
What effects do team chants before games have on team performance? What do the numbers suggest for individual players and their level of chant participation?
Do sports awards and trophies assist in boosting athletes’ self-esteem and motivation? Have awards become meaningless in athletics’ opinions?
What impact does positive reinforcement over intervals training techniques in improving competitive performance in professional matches?
How does cheerleader and band support to the psychology of a high school or college-level student-athlete? Is this true across all sports?
Future trends in sport psychology in light of increased evidence showing head trauma in sports like football and rugby. Will these sports be made safer or will the rules remain the same as long as athletes continue to play and people continue to watch?
Understanding how team sport dynamics have changed in the last twenty years and what can be expected in the future. The rise of the superstar has changed the ways teams are put together, and changed the nature of how the locker room dynamics are.
Ways to promote increased physical activities in lower socio-economic areas where good health in the greater population is low.
Discuss the role of the Olympics upon nations where sport activity is virtually non-existent because of underfunding. Is it a good thing for these nations to invest in sports in the years after the Olympic Games?
Using psychological tests to determine an athlete’s ability to cope with the move from collegiate to professional sports. Are these tests accurate? Could team owners and psychologists have guessed from these results if athletes were going to have drug or problems with violence?

As you continue, thestudycorp.com has the top and most qualified writers to help with any of your assignments. All you need to do is place an order with us. (Sports Psychology Research Paper Topics)

You can also check out Best Examples of Self-fulfilling Prophecies

Sports Psychology Research Topics on Behaviour

How to the behavior of a player reveals his psychology on the ground?
How to keep yourself calm and composed in stressful situations as well?
What are the results of having good behavior in the sports field for players?
Drawbacks of getting out of control on the sports field for a sportsman.
The latest research on behavioral psychology of sportsmen.

Sports Research Topics about Athlete Performance

What should be done to enhance performance on the field?
Role of practice in sports for gaining success.
What are the main components that enhance the performance of a player in Sports?
Which is the largest disgrace in reducing the performance of the player?
How a bad coach can decrease the overall output of a sports team.
The way through which unity enhances performance.

You can also check out Psychology Essay Example

Related FAQs

1. what is sports psychology and why study it.

Sports psychology has become one of the most popular areas of study within the larger discipline of psychology. It’s a study of how sports, exercise, physical activity and athletic performance are all influenced by elements of psychology.

2. What is sport psychology?

Sport psychology is an interdisciplinary science that draws on knowledge from many related fields including biomechanics, physiology, kinesiology and psychology. It involves the study of how psychological factors affect performance and how participation in sport and exercise affect psychological and physical factors.

3. Which researchers have had a positive influence on sport psychology?

Franklin M. Henry was another researcher that had a positive influence on sport psychology. In 1938, he began to study how different factors in sport psychology can affect athlete’s motor skills.

4. What does a sports psychologist do?

Sports psychologists help athletes maintain high levels of performance by prioritizing mental fitness. They also look at sports participation in relation to skills like teamwork and emotional regulation. The field of applied sports psychology emerged in the early 20th century.

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Center for Sport Psychology and Athlete Mental Health

Current Projects

The UNT Center for Sport Psychology and Athlete Mental Health's faculty and graduate students maintain active research programs.

Past Projects

In conducting research, our purpose is to (a) add new knowledge and understanding to specific areas of study, and (b) translate what we learn into new and more effective ways of providing services to the athletes, coaches and parents with whom we work.

Publications

Along with maintaining active research programs, the Center's faculty and graduate students seek to publish their findings in scientific journals and popular magazines to share what they have learned with other sport psychology professionals, students, and sport participants.

Presentations

Presentations provide us with the opportunity to share our research findings and ideas with (a) other professionals in order to stimulate new thinking and (b) athletes, coaches, parents, and other sport personnel to help them learn new information and improve their performances.

COVID and College Student Athlete Health and Well-Being Study

Impact of COVID-19 on College Student Athletes' Health, Performance, and Psychological Well-Being - Released July 8, 2020

Return to Sport: Athletes’ Confidence and Mindset Post-ACL Surgery

Physical therapy is standard for post-ACL surgical rehabilitation, though such protocols normally do NOT address directly athletes' psychological responses to the injury, surgery, and recovery.

NCAA Coaches' Perceptions of Transgender Athletes Inclusion

Coaches hold particular responsibility in developing sport environments and team cultures and have critical and often personal relationships with athletes; therefore, coaches have a direct role in athlete wellbeing and personal development.

Current Grants

The Center for Sport Psychology and Athlete Mental Health supports much of its research program through grants from a variety of external agencies and organizations. The Center has received multiple grants from the NCAA and AASP, as well as funding from NASPE.

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The Relationship Between Psychosocial Correlates and Bulimic Symptomatology in Retired Female Athletes Researchers : Stephanie Barrett, M.S., Trent A. Petrie, PhD -Supported by a Grant from the National Collegiate Athletic Association

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How Do Psychologists Decide What to Study?

Personal perspective: psychological research is sometimes, but not always, “me-search.".

Posted May 14, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

Find a counsellor to help with academics
It is sometimes assumed that the personal concerns of the researcher guide psychological research.
Research topics often evolve from curiosity about how everyday life works.
Connecting new research to existing bodies of research is essential.

There is an old saying among psychological scientists that “Research is me-search.” This means, of course, that people, including psychologists, are drawn to topics that have deep relevance to issues in their own lives.

This old saying certainly rings true as I watch my undergraduate students select topics for their capstone senior research projects: The too-thin young woman who wants to study eating disorders, the student of color who is interested in racism , the child of divorce who desperately wishes to understand how a marriage ending in divorce affects children.

Given that I am best known for my work on creepiness and gossip, this old truism about “me-search” stalks and haunts me whenever I do a media interview about my research on either of these topics. The interviewer always wants to know what it is, exactly, that enticed me to devote years of my life to studying such a thing. There seems to be an assumption that I have a personal story to tell about a lifetime of being plagued by gossip or about my fear that I am chronically creeping other people out.

I will let the discerning reader draw their own conclusions about my interest in creepiness, but my interest in gossip does have an identifiable point of origin that is a bit more mundane than one might expect.

Research Ideas Can Be Inspired by Everyday Life

One day, about 25 years ago, I was standing in a long, slow-moving line at a grocery store. As it happened, my progress was stalled right next to a magazine rack rife with tabloids full of scandalous stories about movie stars, politicians, and assorted other celebrities.

For the first time in my life, I really looked at these publications and found myself wondering how they all stayed in business. Who reads all of this stuff? Why do we care so much about the private lives of individuals who we will never meet? I pondered this during my drive to the office after I left the store. I remember posing questions about the allure of these magazines to the first psychologist colleague I encountered when I got to work, and our ensuing conversation fanned the flames of my interest even further.

Being a good academic, my first impulse was to turn to the scientific literature to see what experts on gossip had been able to uncover. I was stunned by what I found, or more accurately, by what I did not find. There were a few studies in which anthropologists hung out in villages in random cultures and reported on what they heard people talking about when they gossiped and some intriguing anthropological theories about the origin of gossip.

However, I was unable to find anything in the way of actual experiments done by social psychologists on how gossip works. This is extraordinary: Until the dawn of the 21 st century, a universal human activity that lies at the heart of social life had been largely ignored by scientists whose stated mission was to understand human social interaction.

As an experimental social psychologist, I found the implied challenge irresistible. And so, with the help of some of my students, I embarked on a series of experiments on the psychology of gossip. I am proud to say that an interest in gossip spread like wildfire throughout the research community and that the study of gossip is now a thriving enterprise in the field of social psychology and related social sciences.

Thus, some research ideas do indeed spring directly from questions that arise through observing everyday life or from personal concerns faced by the researcher. However, this is not the only way in which research questions are formulated, and I will explore this in another post.

Frank McAndrew, Ph.D., is the Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College.

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Int J Environ Res Public Health

Special Issue: Sport Psychology Interventions for Athletes’ Performance and Well-Being

Selenia di fronso.

1 Behavioral Imaging and Neural Dynamics (BIND) Center, 66100 Chieti, Italy

2 Department of Medicine and Aging Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy

Dagmara Budnik-Przybylska

3 Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Science, Sport Psychology Division, University of Gdańsk, 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland

Scientific evidence highlights that sport psychology interventions adopted by professionals are crucial for making a difference in athlete performance [ 1 ]. Specifically, imagery, goal-setting, self-talk, and relaxation/arousal regulation are the most common interventions adopted by practitioners and athletes to enhance performance [ 2 ]. It is also true that athletes face unique physiological and psychological stressors daily. These may contribute to injuries, overtraining, burnout, and/or other physical and mental health issues. Thus, athletes need to continuously explore interventions to counteract the detrimental effect of physical and mental tension and performing at high levels [ 2 ]. Moreover, interventions that do consider athletes’ emotional and psychological well-being are important components of high performance in sport [ 3 ]. This Special Issue of the “International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health “aims to create a constructive discussion on up-to-date scientific data in this area”. In addition to an intriguing opinion piece in which Hsu and Tseng [ 4 ] claim that the most important attribute for the making of athletes is polished sports talent, followed by psychological, environmental, and incentive factors, we summarize in the following paragraphs the articles which have been published thus far in this Special Issue entitled, “Sport Psychology Interventions for Athletes’ Performance and Well-Being”.

Athlete burnout is one of the most frequent consequences of poor mental health, as well as one of the most discussed topics among sport psychologists. Interventions to reduce or mitigate this issue are still under investigation; thus, Wilczyńska et al. [ 5 ] conducted a systematic review with a meta-analysis to examine the psychological interventions carried out to help young athletes with burnout syndrome. To this purpose, scientific electronic databases (e.g., Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar) were searched, and five studies published between January and June 2022 that met the eligibility criteria (i.e., at least one treated and one control group with pre- and post-test measures; randomized controlled trials; participants that were young athletes with a maximum age of 25 years; and a mental intervention carried out with outcomes on the basis of burnout data for which an effect size could be calculated) were selected. The authors found that cognitive behavioral therapy- and mindfulness-based interventions, especially those held online, effectively reduced most dimensions of burnout. However, they concluded there should be more high-quality studies on this topic, as burnout can lead to deleterious physical and psychological problems not only for athletes, but also for their coaches. Accordingly, mental health and burnout problems require specific interventions and prevention strategies.

Regarding mindfulness-based interventions, di Fronso and colleagues recently verified the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program in sport and physical activity domains [ 6 ]. MBSR includes practices such as mindful yoga, body scanning, and sitting meditation. The authors examined the effects of a dynamic and a static strategy on psychobiosocial states (PBS), perceived stress (PS), and mindfulness levels in athletes and recreationally active (RA) people. In particular, the dynamic strategy was represented by mindful yoga while the static one was represented by a combination of body scanning and sitting meditation. In total, 34 participants (athletes = 18; RA participants = 16) were included in the dynamic intervention strategy, and the other 34 (athletes = 19; RA participants = 15) were included in the static intervention strategy. Before, after the intervention, and three weeks later, the Italian versions of the PBS scale, the PS scale, and the mindful attention awareness scale were completed by participants. The analyses of variance showed that both intervention strategies improved functional PBS, reduced PS, and enhanced mindfulness levels in both athletes and RA individuals after the intervention. On the other hand, improved functional PBS after the intervention and stable PS levels at follow-up were observed mainly in athletes. These findings underline the importance of the body to support emotional and health processes, and encourage the use of mindfulness strategies in sport to improve individuals’ well-being. It should be noted that long-term programs are recommended in RA participants as the effects of the mindfulness strategies seem to be less impactful and enduring.

Moreover, Tebourski et al. [ 7 ] conducted a study about Mindfulness For Performance (MFP). Inspired by MBSR and acceptance commitment therapy, and regardless of the disruptive sensations and thoughts induced by the performance situation, MFP is conceived to help athletes maintain effective attentional focus. It encompasses: (1) psychoeducational content and identification of the focus of attention, (2) mindfulness and acceptance training, and (3) the integration of the skills acquired in training and competition. In particular, the authors reported the effects of MFP in two studies: one about national basketball players and the other one in young table tennis players. The study with basketball players showed that mindfulness skills and free-throw accuracy during games improved more in the experimental group. In addition, the study with table tennis players highlighted that individuals who showed the highest percentage of adherence to the program highly benefited from MFP training in terms of ranking points. Despite the fact that more research with different performance indicators is necessary, both studies provided initial evidence on the promising effects of MFP on performance.

The basketball–mindfulness relationship was examined also by Wang et al. [ 8 ]. In fact, the authors adopted a quasi-experimental design to study the effect of a 7-week mindfulness intervention on the psychological coping ability and shooting performance of college-level male basketball athletes in Macau. To carry out this study, 43 male college basketball athletes were recruited. Besides regular basketball training, the intervention group (n = 23) received mindfulness training for 7 weeks. On the contrary, the control group (n = 20) received no mindfulness training. Before and immediately after the intervention, all athletes filled out the five-facet mindfulness questionnaire, the acceptance and action questionnaire, the sport competition anxiety test, and the mindfulness attention awareness scale, and also performed three shooting tests. The intervention yielded improvements in mindfulness level, acceptance level, and attention level, as well as in the three-point and free-throw shooting performance in participants who received mindfulness training. While further studies are necessary, the present research corroborates the importance of mindfulness training for psychological outcomes and shooting performance enhancement in (Macau college) basketball athletes.

Following the principles of self-regulation, Ruiz et al. [ 9 ] used an action and emotion regulation-based program in ice hockey players. The authors’ hypothesized that the intervention would help players self-regulate their core action components and PBS states. Ice hockey junior players were recruited from two teams competing at the highest level of the Finnish league, and were then assigned to a self-regulation and a control group. Specifically, the self-regulation program adopted by the authors in the experimental group targeted the recreation of the optimal execution of core action elements and functional feeling states. Additionally, it included elements such as imagery and slow-paced breathing. On the other hand, participants in the control group had to follow a breathing pattern similar to spontaneous breathing. A significant increase in vagal tone was observed for the participants in the intervention group. However, the results did not yield significant differences between the self-regulation and control groups in the accuracy and control ratings of the selected action elements, or in the intensities of the feeling states associated with actual performances. The repeated assessments of the aspects related to the action and experiences of the participants likely enhanced the awareness in all participants. Participants in the control group probably used their own self-regulation strategies. The authors also speculated that individual profiles based on action components and psychobiosocial states induced self-reflection, which increased players’ awareness of functional and dysfunctional states and stimulated the identification/initiation of self-regulation strategies. The findings still encourage the combination of strategies targeting the regulation of core action elements and feeling states.

Strategies to enhance self-confidence are generally considered to be common sport psychology interventions for athletes’ well-being and performance, yet evidence of the relationship between self-confidence and athletic performance is equivocal. As a consequence, Lochbaum and colleagues [ 10 ] conducted a systematic review with a meta-analysis on this topic. Moreover, they examined potential risk-of-bias indicators, as well as the moderation effects of study quality, sport characteristics, the timing of confidence measurements, and individual differences among participants. To this purpose, and in addition to some searching by hand, the authors reviewed two past meta-analyses and systematically searched APA PsycArticles, ERIC, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, PsychINFO, and SPORTDiscus within the EBSCOhost platform. Specifically, studies that met the eligibility criteria showed that the self-confidence/performance relationship is small in magnitude, nearly free of bias, and moderated by sport type, performance objectivity, and athlete gender and, consequently, it should be revisited. Indeed, although it might be true that without confidence, athletes cannot win, it might be more precise that without more confidence than the other team or competitors at a critical moment, it is easier not to win.

Li et al. [ 11 ] likely based their contribution to this Special Issue on the idea that interventions to improve sport performance boost athletes’ mental health. Indeed, the authors systematically reviewed the literature about the effects of attentional focus on sprint performance, adopting a meta-analytic technique. Precisely, they reviewed existing findings on the impact of external focus (EF) in comparison to internal focus (IF). They purposefully screened databases such as APA PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science. Their findings revealed that the EF condition can be considered by far better than the IF condition in sprint performance. However, the subgroup analysis should be viewed with caution and although no significant difference was found between the considered subgroups, the benefits associated with the EF strategy seemed to be significant in low-skill sprinters, but not significant in high-skill sprinters. While corroborating the EF effects, Li and colleagues concluded that making adjustments in verbal instructions can lead to significant behavioral effects of great importance in competitive sports and that the reported gain in sprint performance due to attentional focus has practical implications for coaches and athletes. In particular, given that a 1% improvement can increase the chances of success and foster medal positions in international competitions, athletes and coaches should design EF strategies in accordance with their skill development to improve sprinting.

Overall, this Special Issue offers a well-arranged view on sport psychology interventions for athletes’ performance and well-being. To date, the emerging trends shed light on: programs to reduce athletes’ burnout (e.g., behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based interventions); static and dynamic mindfulness-based strategies to reduce stress and improve emotions in athletes of different levels, and specific mindfulness interventions for sport performance (i.e., in basketball and tennis),and psychological coping abilities; the effectiveness of a self-regulation program that includes action and emotion regulation strategies for ice hockey athletes; an updated overview of the relationship between self-confidence and athletic performance, the utmost importance of EF for sprinters. Beyond systematic reviews with meta-analyses and an opinion paper, this Special Issue mainly consists of original research articles. Altogether, these studies, due to their uniqueness, may offer ideas for athletes, coaches, and researchers working in this field to use innovative interventions/research paradigms with the purpose of further strengthening athletic achievements and health.

Funding Statement

This research received no external funding.

Author Contributions

Writing—original draft preparation, S.d.F. and D.B.-P.; writing—review and editing, S.d.F. and D.B.-P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

Different brain structures in females lead to more severe cognitive deficits after concussion than males

Axons in brains of female mammals may be more vulnerable to damage, penn medicine research finds.

Important brain structures that are key for signaling in the brain are narrower and less dense in females, and more likely to be damaged by brain injuries, such as concussion. Long-term cognitive deficits occur when the signals between brain structures weaken due to the injury. The structural differences in male and female brains might explain why females are more prone to concussions and experience longer recovery from the injury than their male counterparts, according to a preclinical study led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published this week in Acta Neuropathologica .

Each year, approximately 50 million individuals worldwide suffer a concussion, also referred to as mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, there is nothing "mild" about this condition for the more than 15 percent of individuals who suffer persisting cognitive dysfunction, which includes difficulty concentrating, learning and remembering new information, and making decisions.

Although males make up the majority of emergency department visits for concussion, this has been primarily attributed to their greater exposure to activities with a risk of head impacts compared to females. In contrast, it has recently been observed that female athletes have a higher rate of concussion and appear to have worse outcomes than their male counterparts participating in the same sport.

"Clinicians have observed for a long time that females suffer from concussion at higher rates than males in the same sports, and that they take longer to recover cognitive function, but couldn't explain the underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon," said senior author Douglas Smith, MD, a professor of Neurosurgery and director of Penn's Center for Brain Injury and Repair. "The variances in brain structures of females and males not only illuminate why this disparity exists, but also exposes biomarkers, such as axon protein fragments, that can be measured in the blood to determine injury severity, monitor recovery, and eventually help identify and develop treatments that help patients repair these damaged structures and restore cognitive function."

If neurons are telephones that send messages between brain cells, axons are the lines that connect them, allowing communication across the brain. These axons form bundles that make up white matter in the brain and play a large role in learning and communication between different brain regions. Axons are delicate structures and are vulnerable to damage from concussion.

Communication between axons in the brain is powered by sodium channels that serve as the brain's electric grid. When axons are damaged, these sodium channels are also impaired, which causes loss of signaling in the brain. The loss of signaling causes the cognitive impairment experienced by individuals after concussion.

In this study, researchers used large animal models of concussion to identify differences in brains of males and females after a concussion. They found that females had a higher population of smaller axons, which researchers demonstrated are more vulnerable to injury. They also reported that in these models, females had greater loss of sodium channels after concussion.

"The differences in brain structure not only tell us a lot about how brain injury affects males and females differently but could offer insights in other brain conditions that impact axons, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease," said Smith. "If female brains are more vulnerable to damage from concussion, they might also be more vulnerable to neurodegeneration, and it's worth further research to understand how sex influences the structure and functions of the brain."

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (R01NS092398, R01NS038104, R01NS094003, U54NS115322, K08NS110929, K23NS123340), the Department of Defense (HT94252311039, W81XWH-21-1-0590, HT9425-23-1-0981), and the Alzheimer's Association (AARFD-23-1144656).

Brain Tumor
Accident and Trauma
Nervous System
Psychology Research
Brain Injury
Intelligence
Disorders and Syndromes
Gender Difference
Brain damage
Traumatic brain injury
Cerebral contusion
Head injury
Social cognition
Psycholinguistics

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

Hailong Song, Alexandra Tomasevich, Andrew Paolini, Kevin D. Browne, Kathryn L. Wofford, Brian Kelley, Eashwar Kantemneni, Justin Kennedy, Yue Qiu, Andrea L. C. Schneider, Jean-Pierre Dolle, D. Kacy Cullen, Douglas H. Smith. Sex differences in the extent of acute axonal pathologies after experimental concussion . Acta Neuropathologica , 2024; 147 (1) DOI: 10.1007/s00401-024-02735-9

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The Power of Sports on Local Broadcast TV

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A survey of over 5,000 adults by Dynata Research reveals that linear TV is the preferred medium for viewing sports, demonstrating the significant influence of local broadcast TV on sports viewership and advertising impact.

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50 Best Sports Psychology Research Topics
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What We’ve Learned Through Sports Psychology Research

Confidence and choking

Pursuing athletic perfection

Sport psychology and performance meta-analyses: A systematic review of the literature

Introduction

The development of sport psychology

Meta-analysis in sport psychology

Purpose and aim

Materials and methods

Eligibility criteria

Information sources

Search protocol

Study selection

Data extraction process

Individual meta-analysis quality

Planned methods of analysis

Study characteristics

Effect size data and bias correction

Study quality rating results and summary analyses

Recommendations

Limitations

Conclusions

Supporting information

Acknowledgments

What We’ve Learned Through Sports Psychology Research

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What Is Sports Psychology? 9 Scientific Theories & Examples

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