Construction and validation of the German coach-rating scale to assess achievement-motivated behavior in team sports (AMBIS-T)

Abstract

Achievement motivation has been identified as a relevant criterion to assess athletic talent. In the context of talent selection decisions, the popular use of self-report questionnaires has presented higher risks of social desirability. Consequently, a shift towards more robust methods such as the assessment of achievement-motivated behavior with the coach-rating scale achievement-motivated behavior in individual sports was suggested. 1 The purpose of this study was to adapt and validate this assessment from individual to team sports, involving 48 German-speaking coaches examining the achievement-motivated behaviors of their 527 youth athletes as well as the self-ratings of 250 athletes. The achievement-motivated behavior in team sports was found to display a good fit with the observed data (e.g., CFI = .98; RMSEA = .04) and to measure reliably the factors proactivity, ambition, and commitment with 12 items (test–retest reliability rtt ≥.75; Cronbach's alpha α ≥ .80 for all scales). With the exceptions of the proactivity scale for interrater reliability, the commitment scale for concurrent criterion validity and the ambition scale for construct validity, psychometric properties were found satisfactory. The use of averaged ratings of two evaluating coaches is recommended to reduce possible bias in the assessment of achievement-motivated behaviors in team sports.