ABSTRACT
There is growing interest in the field of elite athlete mental health screening. Valid, reliable, and brief screening instruments have been lacking. To support early intervention, wherever possible, athlete-specific manifestations of psychological distress should be identified prior to symptoms becoming chronic and complex. This study sought to develop a brief screening instrument for athlete populations – the Athlete Psychological Strain Questionnaire (APSQ) – and examine convergent, divergent, and construct validity. A two-stage psychometric validation study was undertaken. Self-report data was collected from 1,007 currently competing Australian elite male athletes (M = 23.67, SD = 4.16). The sample was randomly partitioned into calibration (n = 497) and validation (n = 510) samples. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and tests of differential item functioning were conducted. Exploratory factor analysis, with parallel analysis, conducted on the calibration sample supported a three-factor solution, with subscales assessing Self-Regulation, Performance, and External Coping, accounting for 50.44% of total scale variance. Confirmatory factor analysis supported this three-factor model, yielding excellent model fit indices (CFI = 0.976, TLI = 0.966, RMSEA = 0.055, SRMR = 0.032), with the Bayesian Information Criterion supporting the superordinate structure. Differential item functioning analysis indicated item-equivalence relative to athletes’ level of education and ethnicity. As predicted, a multivariate effect indicated higher APSQ scores for currently injured athletes (p = .040) with a univariate effect on the performance subscale. The APSQ has subsequently been validated among female athletes and recommended by international bodies as an athlete-specific triage tool. Use of the APSQ may help identify early symptoms of athlete psychological strain facilitating timely management.
