The purpose of the master's thesis was to develop the questionnaire for the measurement of constructs which significantly influence the athlete's psychological functioning. Less optimal psychological condition leads to dissatisfaction with the results and achievements in sports and, consequently, the early finishing of the young athletes' career. The athletes (N = 179, aged 12 to 30), who actively participate in competitions, have responded to a questionnaire measuring the following constructs: competition anxiety, burnout, perfectionism, motivation, athletes’ relationship with the coach, and self-efficiency. Confirmatory factor analysis rejected the expected six-factor model. The exploratory factor analysis showed a more acceptable division of items into three factors, explaining together about 33% of the total variance. The first factor is measuring the negative aspects of sport, the second positive aspects, and the third is measuring the athletes' competitive characteristics. All three factors have an adequate reliability coefficient. In the studied sample, the two genders differed only in the Competitive characteristics scale score. Results showed statistically significant differences between team and individual sports athletes on Positive aspects scale and Competitive characteristics scale. In the future, the validity and reliability of the questionnaire with corrected items will need to be checked.
|