NEWSPAPER PORTRAYALS OF SPORT PSYCHOLOGY IN THE UNITED-STATES, 1985-1993

To assess the way in which sport psychology is portrayed in the media, the content and tone of all articles (N = 574) from three national ne wspapers in the United States that mentioned sport psychology from 198 5-1993 were examined. Although few articles were focused primarily on sport psychology, a wide variety of sports and professionals were iden tified in association with sport psychology. Interventions noted expli citly were predominantly cognitive-behavioral procedures. Performance enhancement was the primary purpose of sport psychology consultation d escribed in the articles. The vast majority of articles were neutral i n tone toward sport psychology, portraying the field in objective term s. The findings suggest that the mass media can be used to promote acc urate perceptions of sport psychology to the public.