Contemporary Hot Topics in Applied Sport Psychology: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the contemporary hot topics in applied sport psychology as a sub-discipline of the broader domain of sport and exercise psychology. Based on a constructivist methodology and a qualitatively driven mixed-method design, the present study analyzed applied sport psychology research topics by evaluating multiple sources of data in three phases representing past, present, and future perspectives. Phase one focused on the categorization of historically published topics through a content analysis of exemplar texts. In phase two, journal content analyses were performed across a decade of published research. Finally, phase three consisted of survey-based research to investigate undergraduate and graduate students’ perceptions of hot topics in the field of applied sport psychology. Generally, results showed leading themes were oriented toward applied sport psychology and social sport psychology where interventions, mental skills, and motivation were among the most salient topics being published. Results of the journal content analyses, as compared to the textbook analysis, revealed 13 emergent categories of contemporary topics (e.g., consulting and consultant effectiveness, family and relationships in sport, sport transition). Results of the student survey illustrated that while students’ favorite topics emulate many of the popular research topics such as motivation and peak performance, they are interested in learning more about topics that were not as common in the published literature such as mental toughness and mindfulness. Future considerations for applied sport psychology research are discussed and emphasize greater attention should be placed on research for mindfulness, cultural diversity and inclusion, and virtual technologies.