The development and preliminary validation of the Challenge and Threat in Sport (CAT-Sport) Scale

Abstract

This paper outlines the development and preliminary validation of a sport-specific measure of athletes' experience of challenge and threat. Three independent studies assess the content validity, factor structure, criterion validity and internal consistency of the Challenge and Threat in Sport (CAT-Sport) Scale. In study 1, a group of 25 athletes and 2 experts assessed the content validity of items derived from existing measures of challenge and threat. Participants examined a pool of 25 items, and were asked to rate the items' applicability to their experiences of challenge and threat in sport. Items failing to reach applicability of 50% were excluded from further analysis. In study 2, 197 runners completed the 21 items retained from study 1 before competition. A principal components analysis with an oblique, direct oblimin rotation yielded a 12-item, two-component solution with items indicative of athletes' experiences of challenge and threat. In study 3, 201 shooters completed the 12-item CAT-Sport before competition. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a 12-item 2-factor correlated model provided acceptable model fit with good internal consistency and criterion validity. Collectively these studies provide support for the CAT-Sport as a measure of athletes' experience of challenge and threat in anticipation of sport competition.

A Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes: A Revised Conceptualization

“…From the sport-related studies that have cited the TCTSA, or measured challenge and threat states in a sporting context but did not cite the TCTSA, a minority of studies have measured cardiovascular responses. Fine motor skills tasks such as golf putting (Freeman and Rees, 2009;Moore et al, 2013a,b;Kingsbury et al, 2014), dart throwing (Moore et al, 2018), virtual ball task (Huber et al, 2016), carom billiard (Di Corrado et al, 2015), and shooting (Rossato et al, 2018) were used in the majority of the studies that measured performance as an outcome. Other researchers assessed performance using cricket batting performance (Turner et al, 2013) or soccer match performance (Dixon et al, 2019).…”

“…Logically, only the second question is valuable since it measures the perception that the individual has the resources to meet the demands, regardless of how high the demands are scored. Other measures that have been used are the recently developed Challenge and Threat in Sport (CAT-Sport) Scale (Rossato et al, 2018), and 11 items (six assessing demands, five assessing resources) developed by Mendes et al (2007) for experimental work. In addition, studies that more closely aligned with the TCTSA assess the resources via separate measures of self-efficacy, perceived control, and goal achievement (i.e., Meijen et al, 2013Meijen et al, , 2014Turner et al, 2013).…”

An Integrative Framework of Stress, Attention, and Visuomotor Performance

“…Alternatively, it could be that either the self-report or cardiovascular measures currently used are not sensitive enough. Improvements to recording equipment and the development of new, more sensitive self-report measures developed specifically for sport (e.g., Rossato et al, 2016), could help resolve this situation.…”

Longitudinal Changes in Elite Rowers’ Challenge and Threat Appraisals of Pressure Situations: A Season-Long Observational Study

“…However, after the present study was completed the Challenge and Threat in Sport (CAT-Sport) Scale (Rossato, Uphill, Swain & Coleman, 2016), was developed, which will be of great value to practitioners and researchers wishing to develop this area further. The value of the present study for practitioners is that it is possible to predict how an athlete may cognitively appraise an imminent competition using predisposed appraisal style.…”