Evidence of validity, reliability, and measurement invariance of the psychological characteristics related to sport performance questionnaire in Colombian athletes

Background The assessment of psychological characteristics is crucial for the intervention and monitoring of sports performance. However, there is a lack of instruments for measuring psychological characteristics in Colombian athletes. Methods This research aimed to examine the validity and reliability of the scores obtained from the Psychological Characteristics related to Sport Performance Questionnaire (CPRD in Spanish). Two complementary studies were conducted: Study 1 included 1.305 athletes, comprising 412 women and 893 men, with an age range between 13 and 59 years, divided into age groups; Study 2 included 478 athletes, comprising 150 women and 328 men, with an age range between 13 and 37 years. Results The four-factor, 37-item CPRD demonstrated acceptable internal consistency for stress control (SC), influence of performance evaluation (IPE), and motivation (M), but inconsistent reliability for team cohesion (TC) (ω = 0.64; α = 0.65), although overall reliability was satisfactory. The four-factor CPRD showed adequate model fit indices. Although the questionnaire demonstrated adequate concurrent validity, convergent validity was not satisfactory. Inverse correlations were observed between the four-factor CPRD and burnout dimensions, and acceptable ratios supporting discriminant validity were identified, along with measurement invariance across sport modality, sex, and age groups (ΔCFI and/or ΔRMSEA ≤ 0.01). Conclusion The four-factor CPRD provides partial evidence of validity and reliability for assessing relevant psychological variables in the Colombian sports context; however, interpretations based on factor-level scores should be made with caution.