PHYSICAL SELF-DESCRIPTION QUESTIONNAIRE - PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES ANDA MULTITRAIT-MULTIMETHOD ANALYSIS OF RELATIONS TO EXISTING INSTRUMENTS

Two samples of high school students (n = 315 and n = 395) completed th e new Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ). Confirmatory fac tor analysis (CFA) was used to demonstrate support for the 11 scales o f physical self-concept (Strength, Body Fat, Activity, Endurance/Fitne ss, Sport Competence, Coordination, Health, Appearance, Flexibility, G eneral Physical Self-Concept, and Self-Esteem) that the PSDQ is design ed to measure, the replicability of its good psychometric properties i n the two samples, and the replicability of the factor structure over gender. Subjects in Sample 1 also completed responses to the Physical Self-Perception Profile (Fox, 1990) and the Physical Self-Concept Scal e (Richards, 1988). CFA models of this multitrait-multimethod data pro vided support for both the convergent and discriminant validity of res ponses to the three instruments. Comparisons of psychometric, theoreti cal, and pragmatic considerations of the three instruments led to the recommendation of the PSDQ in a wide variety of research and applied s ettings.