Psychology of sport and exercise最新文献

This review aimed to systematically synthesize qualitative evidence on the perceptions, experiences, and practices of athletes and stakeholders regarding sports injuries, with a primary focus on risk factors, consequences, injury reporting, rehabilitation, and prevention strategies. A systematic review of qualitative studies was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines and prospectively registered in PROSPERO. Six databases were searched from 2000 to July 2025. Eligible studies explored the lived experiences of sports injuries in athletes and stakeholders. Data were extracted, appraised using the CASP checklist, and synthesized thematically. Thirty-five studies were included, spanning a range of sports and competitive levels. Five overarching themes were identified: (i) risk factors including excessive training loads, poor recovery, early specialization, and psychosocial stressors; (ii) consequences of injury such as disrupted performance, long-term disability, financial costs, and significant psychological distress; (iii) rehabilitation highlighting both the challenges of self-management and the importance of interdisciplinary support; (iv) injury reporting and monitoring where normalization of pain, fear of deselection, and cultural pressures inhibited disclosure; and (v) injury prevention and performance sustainability emphasizing load management, evidence-based practices, collaborative monitoring, and contextual barriers such as limited resources and fixture congestion. Athletes and stakeholders perceive sports injuries as complex biopsychosocial phenomena shaped by cultural norms, resource availability, and interpersonal dynamics. Sustainable prevention requires both individualized and systemic approaches, combining tailored training plans, athlete-centred care, and structured surveillance systems. Qualitative insights highlight the necessity of embedding prevention and rehabilitation strategies within the lived realities of athletes, thereby enhancing health protection and long-term performance sustainability. REVIEW REGISTRATION: This review was prospectively registered on the Open Science Framework in March 2025 (registration DOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/V79D2).

Athletes are often exposed to body pressures in sport environments, which can contribute to body image concerns and eating pathology, with lasting consequences for performance and well-being. Although research has highlighted the harmful impacts of these concerns, and has called for a broader investigation into the sources of athletes' experiences of these concerns, little is known about the role of sport organizations in influencing athletes' body pressures, body image concerns, and eating pathology. Using a descriptive qualitative research design within a post-positivist paradigmatic approach, the current study explored the frequency and content of body- and eating-related policies within the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee's (USOPC) 51 national governing bodies, examining differences in policy frequency and content by sport type. National governing body websites were searched for policy documents aligned with Viollet et al.'s (2023) definition of sport policy. Following reflexive content analysis (Nicmanis, 2024) of 156 body- and eating-related policies, five overarching categories were identified: (a) uniform requirements, (b) athlete body image and nutrition-related supports, (c) organizational strategies to prevent body- and eating-related concerns, (d) body- and eating-related maltreatment, and (e) athletes' responsibilities related to nutrition and body weight. Findings highlight the inconsistent and often vague nature of existing national governing body policies, underscoring the need for standardized and comprehensive policies. Practical recommendations include developing both proactive and reactive body- and eating-related policies, providing clear and specific guidance, and critically examining gendered appearance standards communicated through policy to create a more inclusive sport culture that reduces athletes' experiences of body pressures, body image concerns, and eating pathology.

Individuals experiencing anxiety exhibit attentional biases towards unpleasant stimuli. Exercise is an anxiolytic intervention, evidenced by changes in attentional bias following physical activity. Many individuals experience 'anxiety about exercising' due to perceived deficits in fitness levels, self-consciousness about appearance, or discomfort with exertion. Exercise could counteract the positive benefits and exacerbate anxiety-induced biases in some situations. We sought to investigate whether false feedback about fitness-based social comparison information could impact perceived anxiety and post-exercise attentional bias using a modified dot-probe task. Using a randomized, within-subject experimental design, thirty-nine non-anxious adults completed four dot-probe assessments before and after a single 20-minute cycling session at moderate intensity (55% heart rate reserve). Participants were healthy young adults screened for low anxiety symptoms using standardized affective measures. Attentional bias was operationalized via reaction-time differences to pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral image pairs in a validated modified dot-probe paradigm. The design allowed within-subject comparisons across pre- and post-feedback as well as pre- and post-exercise conditions. Participants were randomized to receive either falsified negative feedback about their fitness levels compared to their peers before and after exercise (n = 18) or neutral feedback (n = 21). Four modified dot-probe assessments were completed, with self-reported emotional states recorded after each task. Results indicate that falsified social-comparative feedback indicating inferior physical fitness encouraged an attentional avoidance to pleasant affective content, while subsequent exercise did not alter this attentional bias. Findings suggest social comparison information about physical fitness may challenge the benefits of moderate-intensity exercise on pleasant affect.

Previous research has demonstrated a link between physical activity and loneliness, though the direction of this relationship remains unclear. This study explored daily fluctuations in the temporal relationship between physical activity and loneliness in young adults. A total of 150 participants (83 women; mean age = 21.1 ± 2.19 years) completed daily surveys across 21 consecutive days. Physical activity was measured using ActiGraph accelerometers. Daily loneliness was assessed each evening using the Chinese version of three-item UCLA Loneliness Scale and a single-item measure. Cross-lagged multilevel linear models examined same-day and lagged associations between physical activity and loneliness at within- and between-person levels. On days with higher moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) or total energy expenditure (TEE), participants reported lower loneliness; no between-person effects emerged. These results were consistent across both loneliness measures. Gender moderated the MVPA-loneliness association, with stronger effects observed among men than women. Loneliness did not predict next-day physical activity. Engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity may help reduce feelings of loneliness on a daily basis, particularly among men. Future research should explore the mechanisms underlying this relationship and assess causal effects to inform tailored interventions for loneliness reduction.

In sport and exercise psychology, professional success is commonly defined by performance, productivity, and impact, which can conflict with the realities of caregiving. This commentary examines the challenges faced by women caregivers in academic settings, where institutional expectations often overlook caregiving demands. It explores the tensions that arise when balancing scholarly responsibilities with caretaking roles and identifies strategies that support caregivers. The discussion also emphasizes the need for structural reforms such as equitable parental leave, accessible childcare, and inclusive tenure policies. Addressing these systemic barriers is essential for fostering a more equitable and sustainable academic environment. By recognizing caregiving as a vital component of academic life, the field can move toward a culture that values care alongside achievement, ultimately enhancing diversity, retention, and well-being within the field.

Menstruation remains a stigmatized topic in sport, despite its impact on athletes' performance and well-being. Although communication barriers and limited education leave female athletes feeling unsupported in managing menstruation, little is known about how parents support adolescent athletes through menarche, despite their significant role in socialization and support. To address this gap, this research explores parent-athlete communication surrounding the onset of menarche. Guided by a constructivist paradigm (Tamminen & Poucher, 2020), ten parents (male n = 3, female n = 7) of adolescent female athletes participated in narrative interviews focusing on their experiences communicating with their child as they started menarche. Narrative thematic analysis was used to identify common themes characteristic to the participants' stories of parent-athlete communication. A braided narrative method of creative nonfiction (Cavallerio, 2022) was used to weave the perspectives of mothers and fathers within the cultural context of menstruation to represent the themes constructed during this study, including emotional challenges, framing of menstruation, self-reflection on parenting, and the impact of gender roles on parent-athlete relationships. The results align with research on how cultural taboo shapes how parents support and communicate with their daughters, highlighting emotional challenges and gendered dynamics that shape communication. By using creative non-fiction to represent parents' experiences, this study offers a nuanced understanding of how menarche is navigated in sport families, inspiring reflection on the emotional, cultural, and gendered dynamics that shape communication about menstruation.

Consistent with general trends in research from around the world, Western ideologies and methodological approaches dominate sport research focused on women athletes' experiences with their menstrual cycles. The purpose of this community-based participatory research (CBPR) study was to employ an Etuaptmumk/two-eyed seeing (E/TES) approach to explore women wrestlers' experiences with their menstrual cycles in training and competition. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit seven young women wrestlers between 16 and 20 years old. Centered in Indigenous methodology, data were generated via talking circles facilitated by two Indigenous Elders, along with follow-up one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Consistent with a CBPR approach, data were analyzed using a three-phase process of content analysis that included the preparation, organization, and reporting of data. Findings are represented by five main themes, highlighting how young women wrestlers' complex menstrual cycle experiences are shaped by feelings of inconvenience and fears of unexpectedly bleeding through clothing. Such experiences are compounded by participating in a sport environment that promotes a culture of no excuses and where coaches, particularly men coaches, may lack the necessary knowledge to support athletes' as they navigate their menstrual cycle in sport. Finally, participants highlighted how teammate support from other woman wrestlers, as well as a change in narrative that focuses on the power of women's menstrual cycles, are essential for supporting young women wrestlers navigate menstrual cycle experiences. This study serves as an example of how Indigenous perspectives and methodologies in sport research foster in-depth understandings of athletes' menstrual cycle experiences.

Elite-level coaches operate within highly demanding, pressurised and unstable high-performance environments that can increase their risk of mental ill-health. This qualitative study investigated perceived factors influencing the mental health of Australian elite-level coaches using an ecological systems approach. Fourteen coaches (men = 12, women = 2) from a range of individual and team sports participated in a single semi-structured interview. Five overarching themes perceived to influence the mental health of Australian elite-level coaches were developed through reflexive thematic analysis, including: (1) encountering multifaceted demands, (2) using psychological resources to moderate the demands of coaching, (3) the protective value of interpersonal networks, (4) the influence of organisational expectations and support, and (5) stigma impedes mental health and help-seeking. Within an ecological systems framework, elite coaches primarily described encountering organisational stressors (e.g. job insecurity, poor work-life balance) that were managed by leveraging individual (e.g. psychological skills), interpersonal (e.g. robust social networks) and organisational (e.g. flourishing environments) supports. Coaches who were unable to employ effective coping strategies, engage with their support networks and lacked robust organisational supports (e.g. promoting a work-life balance) described feeling more vulnerable to poor mental health. The findings suggest that elite sports organisations should offer coaches opportunities to develop psychological skills (e.g. self-compassion), spend adequate time with their support network, and work in psychologically safe environments that promote flourishing. Longitudinal research is needed to identify which factors exert the greatest influence upon the mental health of elite coaches, enabling sports organisations to direct their resources to support coaches in a timely and effective manner.

The present study examined the effects of self-selected music on exercise tolerance and related physiological responses during endurance cycling. Recreationally active adults (N = 29) completed two time-to-exhaustion (TTE) trials at ∼80% of peak power output under counterbalanced conditions: music (self-selected, 120-140 bpm) and no-music. Participants cycled longer with music (M = 35.61, SD = 14.01 min) than without (M = 29.80, SD = 11.47 min), t(28) = 3.62, p = .001, dz = 0.67. Heart-rate (HR) analyses (N = 27) showed greater cumulative cardiovascular load under music (AUC +15.4% vs no-music; t(26) = 2.40, p = .024), and a small isotime HR increase (+2.9 bpm, ∼+1.9%; t(26) = 2.75, p = .011). Music also extended the time participants tolerated suprathreshold effort, both in absolute (p < .001) and proportional (p = .005) terms. Total energy expenditure was higher with music (+69 kJ; +17%; t(28) = 3.34, p = .002), whereas energy-expenditure rate did not differ (+0.11 kJ·min^-1; p = .652); post-exercise lactate was unaffected after controlling for TTE (cond. +0.32-0.39 mmol·L^-1; p ≥ .265). Aerobic fitness (VO₂peak) did not moderate the ergogenic effect (r =-.28, p =.135). Despite longer performance and higher cumulative exposure, terminal responses (end %HRmax, %VO₂peak, RPE, lactate) were similar (all p > .15). Qualitative data contextualized the participant experience. Results support the notion that self-selected music may facilitate tolerance of sustained effort consistent with altered tolerance of effort rather than improved metabolic efficiency.