Award Date

December 2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Committee Member

Bradley Donohue

Second Committee Member

Jason Holland

Third Committee Member

Kimberly Barchard

Fourth Committee Member

Brach Poston

Number of Pages

104

Abstract

There are a variety of cognitive and behavioral factors that have been indicated to have a negative impact on sport performance. College student-athletes may be at particular risk to evidence problems that interfere with optimal sport performance due to high physical, social, and emotional demands. To fully understand what factors influence student-athlete sport performance, appropriate, psychometrically validated assessment measures are needed. The Sport Interference Checklist (SIC) is an assessment tool that was developed to assess sport performance in both training and competitive situations for student-athletes. The SIC includes two scales, the Problems in Sport Training Scale (PSTS) and the Problems in Sport Competition Scale (PSCS). However, this scale has yet to be examined across multiple settings. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to rigorously examine the factor structure of the SIC PSTS and PSCS scales using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Participants were 320 NCAA student-athletes recruited via email. Based upon previous research, it was hypothesized that the data from this sample would conform to the four-factor model of the PSTS and the six-factor model of the PSCS, originally determined by Donohue, Silver, Dickens, Covassin, and Lancer (2007).

Results indicated that data from the current sample did not fit the hypothesized factor structures for the PSTS and PSCS. Therefore, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal components analysis was conducted for each scale. The EFA for the PSTS revealed a four-factor solution (Dysfunctional Thoughts and Stress, Relationship and Motivation Problems, Injury Concerns, Environmental Stressors). The EFA for the PSCS also revealed a four-factor solution (Dysfunctional Thoughts and Stress, Sport Relationship Difficulties, Injury Concerns, Environmental Stressors).

The convergent validity of the PSTS and PSCS factors was examined based on relationships with the use of psychological skills and mental strategies in sport, depression, and anxiety. The PSTS Dysfunctional Thoughts and Stress, Relationship and Motivation Problems, and Environmental Stressors factors had strong convergent validity, while the PSTS Injury Concerns factor had moderate convergent validity. The PSCS Dysfunctional Thoughts and Stress and Sport Relationship Difficulties factors had strong convergent validity, while the PSCS Injury Concerns and Environmental Stressors factors had moderate convergent validity.

Keywords

Assessment; Psychometric; Sport Competition; Sport Performance; Sport Psychology; Sport Training

Disciplines

Clinical Psychology | Psychology

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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