Psychology applied to physical exercise: trends in research conducted during the last decade

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the contents of published research in the field of the psychology of physical exercise during the last decade. For this purpose, papers presented at major national and international conferences on the subject of the psychology of sport and exercise were analysed, together with articles published in major journals in this field during the last decade. To this end, associated descriptors were used associated with physical activity (e.g. exercise, physical activity, health, wellbeing, quality of life), excluding papers with descriptors applied to the fields of sport and physical education in schools. Based on the number of papers presented at events and specialist articles published in scientific journals, we found that the psychology of exercise represents about one third of all papers presented in this field of psychology. Despite the growing interest that has been identified during the last decade, there has been a certain levelling out in the number of papers presented at national and international congresses. It was also possible to verify that the level of attention given to this branch of knowledge varies depending on the journal.