DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A MULTIDIMENSIONAL MEASURE OF SPORT-SPECIFIC PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS - THE ATHLETIC COPING SKILLS INVENTORY-28

Confirmatory factor analysis was used as the basis for a new form of t he Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI). The ACSI-28 contains seven sport-specific subscales: Coping With Adversity, Peaking Under Pressu re, Goal Setting/Mental Preparation, Concentration, Freedom From Worry , Confidence and Achievement Motivation, and Coachability. The scales can be summed to yield a Personal Coping Resources score, which is ass umed to reflect a multifaceted psychological skills construct. Confirm atory factor analyses demonstrated the factorial validity of the ACSI- 28, as the seven subscales conform well to the underlying factor struc ture for both male and female athletes. Psychometric characteristics a re described, and preliminary evidence for construct and predictive va lidity is presented.