Examining multidimensional sport-confidence in athletes and non-athlete sport performers

ABSTRACT

Sport-confidence is considered a critical success factor for sport performers at all levels. Researchers have suggested that sport-confidence is a multidimensional rather than a unidimensional construct, and the sport-confidence model identified three types of sport-confidence (i.e., physical skills and training, cognitive efficiency, and resilience) that are important for success in sport. However, such multidimensionality of sport-confidence and its measurement have not been fully examined. On a large sample of sport performers with varied skill levels and characteristics, the purpose of the present study was to examine the three-factor model of sport-confidence. We tested the measurement invariance of the Sport-Confidence Inventory across 512 athletes and 1170 non-athlete sport performers. Results from the multiple group model analysis showed that the three-factor model of sport-confidence fit better for the athlete sample than for the non-athlete sample. The results implicate that the three-factor model of sport-confidence model is suitable to athletes, though sport-confidence may appear more unidimensional for non-athletes. The use of the Sport-Confidence Inventory for non-athlete sport performers demands further consideration; however, the findings implicate that it could be a useful tool to assess sport-confidence of sport performers at any levels.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-efficacy
• learning
• psychological assessment
• sport psychology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Present data was collected from different projects. To serve our purposes of the study, we decided to combine their SCI data which made a large enough sample to allow for more sophisticated analysis – the analysis we could never complete in each of our original projects. Sample 1 and Sample 3’s data have not been published elsewhere. Sample 2’s data is from the first author’s master’s thesis and the first author published a paper from the project (see acknowledgment for publication details). However, this paper examined completely different variables and research questions so there is no overlap of variables between this paper and the present paper. Also, approximately 15% of data from Sample 4 has been published in a past paper by the second author (see acknowledgement for publication details) which examined completely different research questions.

² Club athletes in this study were athletes who played their respective sports in university-approved clubs. They were not recreational or intramural sport participants.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded in great part by National Science Foundation Grant No. 0732233, “Learning Progressions for Scientific Inquiry: A Model Implementation in the Context of Energy.”