Media analysis is an established area of sport sociology which has been documented by researchers systematically since the 1980s. Some trends have explored the differences between male and female athletes in the print media with significant evidence demonstrating that female athletes do not gain proportional representation and that many strategies employed by journalists traditionally seek to trivialise, sexualise and emphasise the female identity as ‘other’ rather than as athlete. This longitudinal study uniquely documents an analysis of a two week period in the British print media across four decades 1984-2014. This study, grounded in liberal feminism, presents both quantitative and qualitative data and the main quantitative results demonstrate that coverage for female athletes has decreased from 13% to 6.2%. Qualitative themes presented include: relationships, appearance, performance and nationality, the latter emerging as a new theme from the 2014 data set. The results demonstrate that there is little change in amount of representation afforded to female athletes but that there are reporting changes with a greater emphasis on performance and less reliance on appearance. The paper concludes with the position that although sports reporting, in general is on the increase, women athletes are being given less but potentially better coverage

Although anabolic steroid (AS) use has been associated with negative physical and psychological effects, use of AS has continued. Recently, psychosocial factors have been hypothesized to be important in understanding AS use. This study focused on perceptions that three populations (AS‐using athletes, nonusing athletes, and general nonusers) have of AS users. In Experiment 1, 22 AS users (bodybuilders and power‐lifters) read a description of a bodybuilder and rated their perceptions of that athlete. Results indicated that an AS using bodybuilder was rated similarly to a diet‐conscious bodybuilder and significantly more positively than a cocaine‐using bodybuilder. In Experiment 2, 43 nonusing bodybuilders perceived an AS‐using athlete no differently than a nonusing athlete. In Experiment 3, 254 undergraduates rated an AS‐using bodybuilder significantly less positively than a diet‐conscious athlete and a cheater, but no differently than a cocaine user. Implications of the different patterns of ratings made by the three groups of subjects are presented. The utility of considering psychosocial factors when implementing AS prevention programs is discussed.

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This study examined changes in cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence as measured by the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 in a sample of 50 female high school gymnasts prior to their performances at a practice session, dual meet, and district championship meet. The purpose of the study was to examine (1) the relationship between state anxiety and performance setting, (2) experience, and (3) difficulty of the movement task. Analysis showed that at the dual meet athletes experienced significantly greater cognitive and somatic anxiety and lower self-confidence than at the practice or district championship. State anxiety did not vary significantly with the athletes' over-all experience or the difficulty of the routines they performed. The unexpected finding that the dual meet was the most anxiety-provoking was attributed to the greater uncertainty of outcome in a competition and the fact that the dual meet occurred early in the season.

This study examined changes in cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence as measured by the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 in a sample of 50 female high school gymnasts prior to their performances at a practice session, dual meet, and district championship meet. The purpose of the study was to examine (1) the relationship between state anxiety and performance setting, (2) experience, and (3) difficulty of the movement task. Analysis showed that at the dual meet athletes experienced significantly greater cognitive and somatic anxiety and lower self-confidence than at the practice or district championship. State anxiety did not vary significantly with the athletes' over-all experience or the difficulty of the routines they performed. The unexpected finding that the dual meet was the most anxiety-provoking was attributed to the greater uncertainty of outcome in a competition and the fact that the dual meet occurred early in the season.