Preliminary development of a questionnaire to assess peer athlete mentoring functions: the Athlete Mentoring Questionnaire (AMQ)

ABSTRACT

Using a multiphase approach, the purpose of the present study was to develop a psychometrically sound questionnaire to measure protégés’ perceptions of peer athlete mentoring functions. Phase 1 consisted of three stages: (a) item development, (b) assessment of content validity via think-aloud interviews with peer mentored athletes, and (c) assessment of content validity via an expert rating panel. In phase 2, 377 Canadian National team and varsity athletes who were peer mentored completed an initial 42-item version of the Athlete Mentoring Questionnaire (AMQ) and its factor structure was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), and hierarchical ESEM (ESEM-within-CFA). Measurement invariance testing was also performed in phase 2. The final version of the AMQ contains 34 items that measure six peer athlete mentoring functions. It is hoped that the development of the AMQ will spur research in the emerging area of peer athlete mentoring.

KEYWORDS:

• relationships
• measurement
• sport psychology
• organizational psychology

Notes

^1. Due to institutional ethics board policies, varsity-level athletes from Canadian universities (not including those competing for the lead authors’ university) could only be recruited to participate in the current study through direct invitation from the lead author. Thus, requesting that university coaches or athletic directors forward along a recruitment email to their athletes was not an option under the clearance that was granted.

^2. It should be noted that a relatively small portion of these athletes would have been ineligible to participate in the current study due to age restrictions (i.e., being under the age of 17).