Factorial validity and measurement invariance of the Perceived Susceptibility to Sport Injury scale

The Perceived Susceptibility to Sport Injury (PSSI) scale is a measure that has recently surfaced in the sport injury literature. The factor structure of thePSSIscale has not been subjected to a rigorous factor analysis; thus, the factorial validity of the measure in athlete populations is unknown. To establish the validity of thePSSIscale in sports medicine research, the purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure and measurement invariance across gender of thePSSIscale. Male and female intercollegiate athletes (N = 217) completed thePSSIscale during the off‐season. The factor structure was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) procedures and maximum likelihood estimation. The measurement invariance analysis was conducted via comparisons of fit indices within a series of hierarchically constrained models. Results of theCFAyielded a very good fit of the measurement model: χ2(2) = 4.535,P = 0.104;RMSEA = 0.076;SRMR = 0.018;CFI= 0.995;NNFI = 0.985. Results of the measurement invariance analysis demonstrated strict invariance across gender, and no significant latent mean differences emerged between men and women. Study results support the factorial validity of thePSSIscale for use in future sports medicine research.