Development and Initial Validation of the Chinese Version of Psychological Needs Thwarting Scale in Physical Education

Abstract

The current study presents the development process and initial validation of a measure designed for assessing psychological needs thwarting (frustration) in a secondary school physical education context (Psychological Needs Thwarting Scale in Physical Education, PNTSPE). Secondary school students (grades 7–9) from Hong Kong (N = 1258) were invited to participate in three studies. In Study 1, item generation and initial content validity of the PNTSPE were achieved. In Study 2, the factorial structure of the measure was tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency reliabilities of the subscales were also examined. In Study 3, the reliability and validity of the scores derived from the PNTSPE were further examined in an independent sample. Overall, the findings from the three studies provided initial psychometric evidence for the PNTSPE and suggested that the PNTSPE could be used as a valid and reliable measure to assess Hong Kong secondary school students’ psychological needs thwarting in physical education.