Measurement Issues in Cross-Cultural Research Within Sport and Exercise Psychology

The majority of research in sport and exercise psychology has examined a stereotypical mainstream population comprised of white, college-aged, middle-class, and mostly male individuals (Dewar & Horn, 1992; Duda & Allison, 1990; Weiss & Chaumeton, 1992). The use of such exclusive sample characteristics fails to consider individuals of the opposite gender and of other racial, cultural, and socioeconomic groups. As a result, conclusions and recommendations stemming from this research may not be applicable to all individuals and, in fact, may be inappropriate.
Within their report on liberal education, the American Psychological Association (APA) has acknowledged the importance of cross-cultural study to psychology (McGovern, Furmoto, Halpern, Kimble, & McKeachie 1991). Unfortunately, however, cross-cultural psychology is often viewed as reflecting attempts to replicate North American-based findings in some remote part of the world or, within the United States specifically, equated to research on ethnic minorities (Betancourt & Lopez, 1993). Moreover, in the general field of Psychology, a number of writers have pointed to a gap between mainstream investigators and cross-cultural researchers (Betancourt & Lopez, 1993; Clark, 1987; Lee, 1994).