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Elementary school children, 20 boys and 20 girls, served as subjects in this investigation designed to determine how children sex-typed each of three different motor activities and to study their success predictions before and after cross-sex competition. Results of the study indicated that both boys and girls sex-typed a motor task requiring strength, speed, and power as a “male” activity, while the two other motor tasks were characterized as “male-female.” The self-confidence levels of girls, as measured by success predictions were lower than boys prior to competition but only for the “male” activity. After cross-sex competition in which girls succeeded as often as the boys, self-confidence of girls was no different than for boys. There were no sex differences in postcompetition state anxiety levels. All subjects regardless of sex were more threatened after competing in a “male” as opposed to a “male-female” activity, and they experienced lower state anxiety following successful rather than unsuccessful competition.

The present investigation demonstrated cross-cultural support for convergent and discriminant validity of the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ) in a multitrait-multimethod analysis of relations with responses to the Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP). The sample, 1,041 Turkish university students in elective physical education courses from 10 Turkish universities, provided a test of the cross-cultural generalizability of responses to these two widely used English language instruments. In support of construct validity interpretations, matching PSDQ and PSPP factors were highly correlated. However, support for the PSPP was undermined by extremely high correlations among several of its factors, due in part to a substantial method effect associated with its idiosyncratic response scale. Results based on this study with Turkish university students largely replicate and extend the findings of Marsh et al. (1994) with Australian high school students. Based on psychometric, theoretical, cross-cultural, and practical considerations, the results support the use of the PSDQ in a wide variety of research and applied settings.

Blue-collar workers (N = 203) from a large food-processing plant in the south-western U.S. completed measures of perceived stress and leisure-time exercise at an initial test session in addition to a 2-month follow-up session. Mean age of the sample participants equaled 43.61 (SD = 9.79), and 69.5% of the sample were male, 71.4% were Caucasian, and 74.9% were married/cohabitating. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine the cross-lagged relationships between perceived stress and leisure-time exercise at these time points, controlling for gender, marital status, age, and yearly household income. Results indicated that a model with a path from perceptions of Time 1 stress to Time 2 exercise frequency was most parsimonious and provided acceptable model ft, suggesting that perceptions of stress are related to reductions in exercise participation in this population. However, there was little support for a relationship between Time 1 exercise participation and Time 2 perceived stress.

It is becoming increasingly important to determine whether structural models of measures of sport and activity behavior developed in North America are invarant across different populations. This study assessed (a) the cross-cultural validity of the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ) using male college students across the United States (n = 309), Thailand (n = 312), and Taiwan (n = 307); and (b) the factorial equivalence and structured latent mean differences of the TEOSQ in these samples. Using a confirmatory factor analytic procedure, the initial test of the hypothesized two-factor structure representing task and ego orientation yielded a good fit for each sample. The factor structure was further shown to be metric invariant across the three countries. Furthermore, tests of latent means showed significant differences between groups. The United States sample exhibited the highest levels of task and ego orientation, followed by the Taiwan and Thailand samples, respectively.

This study examined the predictions of goal perspective theory within Korean youth sport. Middle-school-aged athletes (244 males and 90 females) completed the Korean versions of Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ) and the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI). Both task and ego orientations were positively correlated with intrinsic motivation. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested that overall fit for the modified versions of the TEOSQ (10 items) and the IMI (13 items) were marginal. Gender × Grade (2 × 3) MANOVAs revealed that males were higher than females on two dimensions of intrinsic motivation (perceived competence and effort/importance). Canonical correlation analyses indicated that both task and ego orientation scores corresponded to the dimensions of the IMI. These findings are discussed in terms of cross-cultural generality and cultural specificity of the goal perspective theory.

Structural equation modeling was used to test an extended version of the Kendzierski, Furr, and Schiavoni (1998) Physical Activity Self-Definition Model. A revised model using data from 622 runners fit the data well. Cross-validation indices supported the revised model, and this model also provided a good fit to data from 397 cyclists. Partial invariance was found across activities. In both samples, perceived commitment and perceived ability had direct effects on self-definition, and perceived wanting, perceived trying, and enjoyment had indirect effects. The contribution of perceived ability to self-definition did not differ across activities. Implications concerning the original model, indirect effects, skill salience, and the role of context in self-definition are discussed.

The aims of this study were to assess the cross-cultural invariance of athletes’ self-reports of mental toughness and to introduce and illustrate the application of approximate measurement invariance using Bayesian estimation for sport and exercise psychology scholars. Athletes from Australia (n = 353, M _age = 19.13, SD = 3.27, men = 161), China (n = 254, M _age = 17.82, SD = 2.28, men = 138), and Malaysia (n = 341, M _age = 19.13, SD = 3.27, men = 200) provided a cross-sectional snapshot of their mental toughness. The cross-cultural invariance of the mental toughness inventory in terms of (a) the factor structure (configural invariance), (b) factor loadings (metric invariance), and (c) item intercepts (scalar invariance) was tested using an approximate measurement framework with Bayesian estimation. Results indicated that approximate metric and scalar invariance was established. From a methodological standpoint, this study demonstrated the usefulness and flexibility of Bayesian estimation for single-sample and multigroup analyses of measurement instruments. Substantively, the current findings suggest that the measurement of mental toughness requires cultural adjustments to better capture the contextually salient (emic) aspects of this concept.

The present study tested the cross-cultural generalizability of the measurement and structural parameters of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) among youth in a physical activity context. Pupils from five cultural groups completed measures of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), and intentions for physical activity. Five weeks later, participants completed self-report measures of physical activity behavior. Confirmatory factor analyses and multisample structural equation models revealed well-fitting models within each sample with minimal variations in the measurement parameters across cultures. There were a few significant cross-cultural differences in the structural relations among the TPB constructs. Attitudes predicted intentions in all samples (β range = .300 to .550), whereas the effect of the subjective norms on intention was nonsignificant in all but the Hungarian sample (β = .243). Conversely, the effect of PBC on intentions was significant (β range = .302 to .573) in all but the Hungarian sample. Findings support the generalizability of the measures and pattern of effects for the TPB among young people in a physical activity context.