Preliminary validation of a Spanish version of the Athlete Engagement Questionnaire (AEQ)

Abstract

The Athlete Engagement Questionnaire (AEQ) has showed evidence of its validity and reliability for measuring engagement in athletes. Engagement in athletes is a positive and persistent experience characterized by emotions and cognitions of confidence, vigor, dedication and enthusiasm. The purpose of this study was to adapt the AEQ into Spanish. AEQ-Spanish was administered to a sample of 509 Spanish athletes and data were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis. The original model comprising four factors (confidence, vigor, dedication and enthusiasm) was replicated. All estimated parameters were statistically significant and overall fit of the model was reasonable (indexes of goodness of fit reached the minimum values). The values of Cronbach´s alpha were also satisfactory for each factor with values above .70 cutoff. In conclusion, the Spanish version of AEQ offers similar psychometric properties to the findings in original version and it will allow researchers to carry out research in the Spanish context to identify personal and situational factors that contribute to engagement