Adaptation of the athletic identity measurement scale (AIMS-Plus) for the portuguese population

Abstract

Athletic Identity may be defi ned as being the degree of importance, strength and exclusivity that is attached to the athlete's role which is maintained by him/herself and his/her context (Cieslak, 2004). In this study, using a confi rmatory factor analysis, the measure of Athletic Identity (AIMS-plus) was examined. A total of 650 athletes completed the AIMS-plus. The psychometric features of the original scale were replicated to the Portuguese population. Validity and reliability were positive. AIMS-plus and AIMS were high correlated suggesting that both scales derive from similar athletic identity concepts. These results suggest that AIMS-plus seems to be an acceptable psychometric instrument and a good measure to be explored in research and intervention for athletic identity. It's also recommended further studies of the psychometric characteristics. Keywords: Athletic identity, multidimensional, cross-cultural validation. ResumoIdentidade Atlética pode ser defi nida como o grau de importância, força e exclusividade vinculada ao papel de atleta que é mantida pelo contexto e pelo próprio (Cieslak, 2004). No presente estudo, através de uma análise factorial confi rmatória, foi examinada a medida de identidade atlética -AIMS-plus utilizando um total de 650 atletas. Replicaram-se as características psicométricas da escala original para a população portuguesa e verifi cou-se que a validade e fi delidade são adequadas. O AIMS-plus e o AIMS aparecem correlacionados de forma elevada e positiva o que confi rma a derivação comum do mesmo conceito de Identidade Atlética. Os resultados sugerem que o AIMS-plus apresenta capacidades psicométricas aceitáveis e uma boa medida a ser explorada pela investigação e a ser utilizada na intervenção com atletas. É recomendada a continuação da exploração das características psicométricas. Palavras-chave: Identidade atlética, multidimensional, validação transcultural.The process of athletes' identifi cation to sports role often infl uences one's personal experiences, interpersonal relationships and the consolidation of one's involvement in sports activity (Cornelius, 1995), quite often at the expense  Mailing address:

Athletes and adversities: athletic identity and emotional regulation in time of COVID-19

“…The three-factor higher order structure is also in line with what emerged in recent cross-cultural validations [10,11,13] and consolidates the construct of Athletic Identity and the validity of the AIMS across different countries and cultures. It should be noted that in recent years, some authors have suggested an expansion of this instrument [12], with the addition of a further sub-dimension (i.e., "positive affectivity") and a split of "social identity" into "social" and "self-identity". However, these studies need to be extended and the three-factor model proposed by Brewer and Cornelius [6] remains the more consolidated to date.…”

“…To explore these aspects of the self, it would have been necessary to adopt other existing scales validated for an Italian speaking population, but there appears to be a lack of these measures with a sole religious identity measure [35] recently validated. On the other hand, it would have been possible to validate more general measures of self-concept for the Italian context, such as the Tennessee Self-concept scale (TSCS-2 [36]), but we considered a priority for the Italian sporting context the translation of the AIMS, which is a scale specific for the sport domain and has received widespread use across several countries [10][11][12][13].…”

“…It has been developed and refined over the last three decades, measuring three dimensions labelled "social identity", "exclusivity" and "negative affectivity" [5,6,9]. This scale has been in widespread use in the sport domain and has been recently validated across several countries [10][11][12][13], however an Italian translation of this instrument has yet to be validated. For these reasons, we decided to adopt the AIMS scale for the present research, and we tested its psychometric properties in a first study.…”

Examining the validity of the Athlete Engagement Questionnaire (AEQ) in a Portuguese sport setting

“…Specifically, the model's invariance in two independent samples was supported, indicating cross validity. This is a pivotal step when evaluating psychometric properties of a measurement scale (Marôco, 2010), and this procedure has been reported when validating scales in recent studies conducted in the sports scenario (e.g., Alvarado, Sandín, Valdez-Medina, González-Arratia, & Rivera, 2012;Biscaia, Correia, Ross, Rosado, & Mâroco, 2013;Cabrita, Rosado, Leite, & Sousa, 2013;Theodorakis, Dimmock, Wann, & Barlas, 2010). population to better understand engagement among athletes.…”

Factor Validity of the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale in a Mainland Chinese Sample

“…Considering the possible cultural differences in the process of self-identity, it is beneficial to explore the structure of athlete identity in non-English-speaking culture. These studies involved people of different languages and cultures such as Russian, 9 Portuguese, 10 Hong Kong, 11 Greek, 12 Brazilian, 13 Turkish, 14 Japanese, 15 and extended to special groups such as athletes with disabilities. 16 With the validation of AIMS in different cultures, some researchers have revealed the existence of other dimensions of AIMS.…”