The state of diversity in the Association for Applied Sport Psychology: Gaining momentum or still swimming upstream?

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to determine if the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) has made significant changes in the past decade regarding diversity in conference programming. Through a content analysis of 3,466 abstracts, we found that 34.7% of presentations included a diverse sample, whereas 15.3% addressed a diversity issue. Significant increases between 1986–2007 and 2008–2017 occurred for both diverse samples and diversity issues. Although there were some notable improvements (e.g., disability issues), multiple aspects of diversity (e.g., race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, older adults) remained strikingly sparse. Practical implications for cultivating diversity in AASP are provided. Lay summary: This was a 10-year follow-up study of Kamphoff et al.’s analysis of diversity in AASP conference programming. Results indicated that abstracts addressing diversity issues or including diverse samples has significantly increased. Nonetheless, many traditionally underrepresented populations and topics continue to be marginalized. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AASP and other sport and exercise psychology (SEP) organizations could phrase their conference abstract submission guidelines to strongly encourage the reporting of participants from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. Additionally, they should recruit abstract reviewers with knowledge of diverse methodologies and cultural sport psychology. AASP must invest in international outreach and recruitment by forming strategic alliances with organizations such as ISSP, ASPASP, SOSUPE, SIPD, ASSEP, and FEPSAC. All SEP organizations should track the prevalence of diversity-related content in their conference presentations and sponsored journals to provide insights on how well they are producing and disseminating culturally relevant knowledge.