Recent trends in psychology in early life exercise and physical activity: A bibliometric study

Introduction: This paper aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis focusing on recent developments in psychology about physical activity and exercise during early life. Materials and Methods: Excel, VOSviewer, and the bibliometric R-package tools were used to examine and assess pertinent records from the Web of Science (WOS) database between 2010 and 2023, following a dependable search approach. Results: We obtained 31,618 scientific records from the Web of Science database. These records were retrieved using specific keywords and covered and analyzed for their content. The most popular topics in this research area included Children, Physical activity, Adolescents, Health, Quality of life, Exercise, Depression, and Stress. The research also revealed that the journals Frontiers in Psychology and International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health were the most active in this field. Developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands were the most productive regarding research output. Additionally, the study identified Serge Brand as the most active author. Conclusion: The intersection of early life psychology and physical activity and exercise remains an area of active research interest. This study indicates that researchers in developed countries produce the most literature on this topic. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that a considerable portion of the global population, particularly in developing countries, needs to be adequately represented in the research on early life psychology related to exercise and physical activity.