Psychological Flexibility Among Competitive Athletes : A Psychometric Investigation of a New Scale

• There is increasing interest in applying acceptance and mindfulness interventions amongathletes. However, there is a lack of sport-specific psychometrically evaluated scales tomeasure the impact of these interventions. The present study describes the developmentof a measure: the Psychological Flexibility in Sport Scale (PFSS). Its validity was testedin two studies. In the first study, with 152 elite athletes from various sports, explorativefactor analysis was used to evaluate the scale’s validity, and one factor emerged withseven items. Significant correlations between psychological flexibility, performance, andquality of life were found. Moreover, the PFSS was significantly negatively associated withage, number of years in sport, and number of years as an elite athlete. In the secondstudy, the confirmatory factor analysis with a new population (252 athletes) supportedthe one-factor solution. Further, positive associations were found with anxiety (BAI) anddepression (BDI-I), indicating construct validity. In conclusion, this study presents a scalefor measuring psychological flexibility in a broad range of athletes, with satisfactorypsychometric properties and the potential to be a useful instrument for both researchersand clinicians in the sport field

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

acceptance

psychometric evaluation

performance

quality of life

psychological flexibility

Psykologi

Psychology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

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