Invariance Testing of the Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey Across Masters Athletes’ Age, Gender, Competition Level, and Sport

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Adult-Oriented Sport Coaching Survey (AOSCS) is a valid and reliable measure of coaches’ and Masters athletes’ perspectives of how often adult-oriented coaching practices are used. However, Masters athletes’ heterogenous traits have been acknowledged as barriers to generalizing research findings on coaching behaviors. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct invariance testing of the AOSCS across groups of Masters athletes based on age, gender, competition level, and sport grouping variables. A sample of 616 Masters athletes (61.9% female, 37.5% male; Mage = 54.47 years, SD = 10.82) completed the AOSCS-A (athlete version) and demographic questions. The results indicated the AOSCS-A demonstrates configural, metric, scalar, and strict invariance across Masters athletes that differed on age, gender, competition level, and sport. This evidence advances the AOSCS-A as an assessment tool by ensuring confidence in the measurement and interpretation of adult-oriented coaching practices reported by Masters athletes, irrespective of age, gender, competition level, and sport.