Current Sport Psychology Research Topics — A Knowledge Map

Current Sport Psychology Research Topics — Concept Map

Recent research  uses imagery (i.e. "maps") to describe and define sport(s) psychology as a field

Michigan State University

A science that combines kinesiology, physiology, and psychology to research how mental and physical processes affect athletic performance and vice versa

Sport(s) Psychology

Latinjak, A. T., & Hatzigeorgiadis, A. (2021). The Knowledge Map of Sport and Exercise Psychology: An Integrative Perspective. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 661824. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.661824

The Knowledge Map of Sport and Exercise Psychology: An Integrative Perspective

Athletes who perform in team sports perceived their relationship with their coach to be less close, less committed, and less complementary than athletes who participate in individual sports.

Coach-Athlete Relationship in Team Sports

Athletes who perform in individual sports perceive their relationship with their coach to be closer, more committed, and more complementary than that of athletes who participate in team sports.

Coach-Athlete Relationship in Individual Sports


To seek advice, information, or behavioral therapy from a sport(s) psychologist on how to improve one's athletic performance via sports psychology.

Sport(s) Psychology Consulting

Mapping Sports Psychology

 What promotes excellence in performance? A researcher studying how sports psychology and positive psychology intersect brought forth this pictural in attempt to answer that question.

 Promoting excellence in performance

A state of confidence, absorption, perceptions of control, enhanced motivation, enjoyment, and altered sensory perceptions free of critical thoughts. Actions committed in flow state feel effortless.

Flow State

A state of confidence, absorption, perceptions of control, enhanced motivation, enjoyment, and altered sensory perceptions accompanied by intense critical thoughts.  In clutch state, some report feeling anxiety, effortful concentration, and heightened awareness of the situation's direness.

Clutch State

Athletic performance at the optimum level of an individual's physical abilities, mental capabilities or both. The ultimate purpose of sports psychology is to allow athletes to achieve this.


Peak Performance

A science that handles sports-related of neurological injuries and conditions in athletes.

Sport(s) Neurology

a review of 17 studies found the prevalence of ADHD in athletes age 15-19 was between 4.2% and 8.1% 

Prevalence of ADHD in Teen Athletes

Biological, physical, psychological sociological factors, and stress (causes increased muscle tension and can impair coordination) can increase injury risk and impair recovery

Factors That Increase Risk of Injury in Athletes

Mental exhaustion influenced by athletic performance and/or pressures. Symptoms can include, but aren't limited to; mental block, lack of motivation, irritability, problematic eating habits, and insomnia.

Sports Psychological Fatigue

Treatment and Management Methods Used in Sports Psychology

-this study sought to examine the relations between sports participation, academic achievement, and self efficacy in high school students.

Self Efficacy Influence on Sport and Academic Achievement

Approximately 17.3% of elite athletes experience moderate to severe body image concerns.

Body Image Concern and Eating Disorder Symptoms Among Elite Athletes

Athletic performance factors like endurance, strength, power, flexibility, neuromuscular coordination, psychological qualities, and other crucial aspects of sport, are greatly influenced by genetic components.

Genetic markers can be sorted into the following groups:
- Markers associated with skeletal muscle structure and function
- Markers involved in the inflammatory and repair reactions in skeletal muscle during and after exercise
- Markers involved in blood pressure control
- Markers involved in modulation of oxygen uptake 
- Markers that are regulators of energy metabolism and cellular homeostasis
- Markers encoding factors that control gene expression by rearrangement of chromatin fibers and mRNA stability
- Markers modulating cellular signaling pathways


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