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Sport Psychology Research Guide

When to Use This Guide

Use this guide when researching the application of psychological theories and methods to sport and recreational activities. Other areas of psychology, such as developmental and social, may also be part of your research.

Finding General or Background Information on Sport Psychology

Resources such as those listed below are good places to find background information.

• Sport Psychology: The Key Concepts - R GV 706.4 .C39 2002
• Handbook of Sport Psychology - R GV 706.4 .H37 2001
• Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport - R GV 567 .B48 2005
• Sports in America: Recreation, Business, Education, and Controversy - [electronic resource]

Subject Headings for Finding Information about Sport Psychology in the Book and Media Catalog

• Sports psychological aspects
• Sports moral and ethical aspects
• Sports social aspects
• Sex discrimination in sports
• Sports for women
• Violence in sports

Finding Articles About Sport Psychology in Research Databases

EBSCOhost
Search EBSCOhost for psychology articles published in scholarly, popular, and general interest periodicals.

PsycArticles
PsycARTICLES© is a database of full-text articles from journals published by the American Psychological Association and others. Coverage for some of them extends back to the 19th century. Note the Thesaurus (link at the bottom of the screen) for help in finding synonyms, and broader, narrower, and related concepts.

Congressional Quarterly Researcher (CQ Researcher)
Contains reports about issues widely discussed in the media, for example, sportsmanship, college sports, steroid use, Olympics, or gender issues in sport. While these topics are not discussed from a strictly psychological perspective, the reports can provide context and background for your research.

Selected Web Sites

LA84 Foundation Digital Archive
This site provides access to more than 40,000 PDF documents, some on sport psychology, from one of the world’s largest sport research collections.

SportsLink
An extensive, up-to-date sports information and education directory of links. Contains information on national and international organizations and associations.

Online Journal of Sport Psychology
Non-proprietary, peer-reviewed, quarterly forum on topics within the field of sport psychology. There is no search function, though you can use the browser’s “Find” button to scan the articles’ titles in current and past issues. The site includes a broad set of links for those interested in becoming a sport psychologist or using the services of one.

United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace
This Task Force encourages a more coherent approach to the use of sport-related initiatives in the pursuit of United Nations development goals, particularly at the community level. It also promotes the use of sport as a recognized tool in development policy.

Sport Psychology Resources
A section of PsychWatch “intended to provide information that is both directly and indirectly related to the field of Sport Psychology.”

Page Last Updated: February 14 2013