Nicole Bolter Headshot

Nicole Bolter

Email: nbolter@sfsu.edu
Location: Gym 125

Dr. Nicole Bolter is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses focused on sport and exercise psychology and research methods. Her research centers on how participation in sport and physical activity can be a growth experience for children and adolescents, including the role coaches, parents, and peers play in shaping youths’ motivational processes and social emotional development. She keeps wondering how physical activity contexts can be structured to maximize the presumed psychosocial and physical benefits.

Dr. Bolter has been a part of several comprehensive evaluations of physical activity-based youth development programs, including The First Tee, Girls on the Run, and Junior Giants. She has also been a key collaborator in designing and implementing social justice pedagogical interventions for college students, including the creation of the Social Justice Syllabus Design Tool.

 

Selected Publications

Evaluation of Physical Activity-Based Youth Development Programs

  • Bolter, N. D., Kipp, L. E. and Greenwood, P. B. (2024). Retention in Junior Giants, a sport-based youth development program: What factors are associated with intentions to return? Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 6,1360289. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.20241360289  
  • Weiss, M. R., Kipp, L. E., Phillips Reichter, A., & Bolter, N. D. (2020). Evaluating Girls on the Run in promoting positive youth development: Group comparisons on life skills transfer and social processes, Pediatric Exercise Science, 32(3), 172-182. https://doi.org/10.1123/pes.2019-0252
  • Weiss, M. R., Bolter, N. D., & Kipp, L. E. (2016). Evaluation of The First Tee in promoting positive youth development: Group comparisons and longitudinal trends. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 87(3), 271-281. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2016.1172698

 

Social Justice Pedagogy

  • Bolter, N. D., Sosna, D., Arauzo, M., & George, G. L. (2023). Changing perspectives among pre-health undergraduates through a brief weight bias pedagogical intervention. Health Education Journal, 82(4), 361-375. https://doi.org/10.1177/00178969231159960
  • Veri, M. J., Taylor, S. D., Eliason, M., Bolter, N. D., & van Olphen, J. (2022) ‘I can’t unsee what I’ve seen:’ Doing social justice pedagogy in the research methods classroom. Teaching in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2022.2048368
  • Taylor, S. D., Veri, M. J., Eliason, M., Hermoso, J. R., Bolter, N. D., & Van Olphen, J. E. (2019). The social justice syllabus design tool: A first step in doing social justice pedagogy. Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity, 5(2), 133-166. https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2642-2387.2019.5.2.132-166

 

Developmental Sport Psychology: Coaches and Parents

  • Kipp, L. E., & Bolter, N. D (2024). Motivational climate dimensions predict youth soccer players’ psychosocial well-being over time. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 70, 102518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2023.102518
  • Lucas, S. M., Bolter, N. D., Petranek, L. J., Nilsson, K., Pardue, K., & Flint, H. (2023). Parents’/guardians’ experiences with their adolescents’ prolonged recovery from a sport-related concussion. Journal of Concussion, 7, https://doi.org/10.1177/205970022311609
  • Bolter, N. D., & Weiss, M. R. (2012). Coaching for character: Development of the Sportsmanship Coaching Behaviors Scale (SCBS). Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 1, 73-90. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026300

 

 

Teaching

  • KIN 331: Peak Performance
  • KIN 404: Sport and Exercise Psychology
  • KIN 604: Advanced Exercise Psychology
  • KIN 710: Research in Kinesiology
  • KIN 715: Research Designs and Analysis
  • KIN 763: Motivation and Performance

 

Interested in Working with Dr. Bolter?

Contact Dr. Bolter via email or setup an office hours appointment.