Correcting a Historical Error about Female Participation in Training Studies Before 1975

Abstract

ABSTRACT An influential journal in the history of kinesiology is Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport (RQES). In 2005, RQES published a historical review in which the authors claimed the first training study in RQES to focus on women was by Wallace in 1975. In the current paper, the author corrects this historical inaccuracy. The electronic archives of RQES were downloaded and titles of papers published between 1930 and 1975 were screened to identify training studies. A training study was defined as an examination of the effects of a physical activity intervention of ≥1 week on any physical or mental health outcome. A total of 33 female-only training studies were published in RQES between 1930 and Wallace’s 1975 paper. The 33 studies included 4,960 female participants and consisted of various training modalities, durations, and outcomes. Also, the broader claim made in the historical review that women's health issues were not a focus of RQES until Title IX in the 1970s is challenged. A number of non-training studies in RQES between 1930–1975 focused on women’s health issues (e.g., dysmenorrhea), and sex-specific analyses were performed in early RQES studies. This information corrects the historical record about female participation in RQES studies and informs contemporary discussions about female research participation.