Development of Subjective Self-Evaluation Scale for Athletic Performance

Abstract

Prior research has suggested that it is difficult to evaluate athletes’ physical and mental performance levels. The purpose of this study is to develop a subjective self-evaluation scale for athletic performance (SSESAP) for university baseball players. The subjects of 264 Japanese university baseball players (mean age: 19.45, SD: 0.89) in four baseball teams in Tokyo Metropolitan Area University Baseball League were asked to answer a questionnaire composed of questions on their socio-demographic characteristics, self-rated baseball skills, performance levels in comparison with teammates, position status and their attitudes to team sports as well as views of themselves in their current team. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis and one-way ANOVAs were conducted to develop the SSESAP. SSESAP were found to have three factors (Accomplishment of Purpose: AOP, Practical Skills: PS, Ideal Performance: IP), satisfactory fit indices (GFI=0.942，AGFI=0.890，CFI=0.983，RMSEA=0.068) and Cronbach alpha reliabilities (0.850-0.935). The result of one-way ANOVAs showed significant main effects of three sub-scales of SSESAP (“position statuses,” “competitive levels,” and “skill levels”) and significant differences in the mean scores of sub-groups within the three sub-scales. The results imply that SSESAP can be useful measures to self-evaluate baseball players’ performance levels.