ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Women in Sport
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1596418
This article is part of the Research TopicBridging the Knowledge Gap: Enhancing Research on Women's Participation in SportsView all 5 articles
Female athletes' knowledge of biopsychosocial puberty-related topics in sports. What is missing?
Provisionally accepted
Felicia Radovan1*
Bård Erlend Solstad2
Jørgen Kjær1
Anna Katarina Melin1
Ådne Ausland2
Daniel Bjärsholm1
Andreas Ivarsson3
Monica Klungland Torstveit2
Aron Laxdal2
Sofia Ryman Augustsson1Susanne Linner1- 1Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden
- 2University of Agder, Kristiansand, Vest-Agder, Norway
- 3Halmstad University, Halmstad, Halland, Sweden
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Introduction: Puberty has been identified as one of the main contributing factors for girls dropping out of sports during adolescence. Knowledge and social support can, however, help athletes navigate the biopsychosocial (BPS) puberty-related changes associated with this period. Yet, research on female athletes’ knowledge about BPS puberty-related topics is lacking. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aimed to examine female athletes’ perceived knowledge and knowledge needs of BPS puberty-related topics during adolescence, explore interconnections across BPS domains, and investigate differences between athletes in team and individual sports. Method: A total of 1323 Swedish and Norwegian female athletes (M age 18.7 ± 2.3 years, range 16-24) from ten sport disciplines [n=657 (49.7%) team sport athletes; n=656 (49.6%) individual sport athletes] completed an online survey in 2024 on perceived knowledge and knowledge needs regarding BPS puberty-related topics during adolescence. Results: Findings revealed low perceived knowledge and high knowledge needs among female athletes. A Mann-Whitney U test revealed higher perceived knowledge among team sport athletes regarding individual differences, social cohesion, social comparison, acceptance within the group, and recovery, compared to individual sport athletes. Additionally, team sport athletes reported higher knowledge needs regarding social comparisons, sports nutrition and recovery, while individual sport athletes reported higher knowledge needs regarding changes in sex hormones, individual differences, and changes in body composition. A network analysis identified clusters of biological, psychosocial, and behavioral topics in perceived knowledge and knowledge needs, indicating that knowledge is concentrated within domains.
Keywords: Interdisciplinary research1, knowledge needs2, perceived knowledge3, puberty development4, sports participation5, subjective well-being6
Received: 19 Mar 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Radovan, Solstad, Kjær, Melin, Ausland, Bjärsholm, Ivarsson, Klungland Torstveit, Laxdal, Ryman Augustsson and Linner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Felicia Radovan, Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden
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