The development and validation of the Youth Sport Parental Support-Questionnaire (YSPS-Q)

Abstract

The concept of parental support in youth sport has been well studied, however, the measurement of the construct is not as advanced. Existing sport parenting literature has relied on study-designed instruments and/or psychometric instruments not developed or validated for use in the sport-specific context. The present multi-study research programme sought to develop and validate a theory-informed measure of parental support in youth sport. In study one, athletes’ perceptions of parental support were explored to gain an in-depth qualitative understanding of parental support. The findings from study one were subsequently utilised to inform the generation of initial scale items (70 items) which reflected parental support in study two. Content validity was then established during study two, through an expert panel of judges (n = 5) and members of the target population (n = 7). During study three, retained items (33 items) were administered to a sample of youth athletes (n = 318) for further item reduction and to explore the factor structure of the instrument, utilising exploratory factor analysis (EFA). In study four, a 19-item measure was administered to a second independent sample of youth athletes (n = 319), to confirm the factor structure of the instrument utilising confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Following minor ad-hoc modifications, the final four-factor, 18-item YSPS-Q (autonomy; emotional; instrumental; informational support) demonstrated excellent model fit. Moreover, the 18-item YSPS-Q demonstrated good reliability, alongside convergent, and divergent validity. The YSPS-Q will enable researchers to effectively evaluate future parent-support programmes, and assist researchers in understanding what factors moderate its effectiveness.