Development and validation of psychological skills scale for hockey players and cricketers

Abstract

The present research was carried to develop an indigenous, valid, and reliable scale to assess psychological skills of hockey players and cricketers. An initial item pool of 130 items was generated through detailed, open-ended, and semi-structured interviews with six international hockey players and two international cricketers, whereas, a preliminary questionnaire was administered on 518 players (261 hockey players and 257 cricketers). Principal Factor Analysis with Varimax rotation postulated 84 items with three distinct factors: Psycho-Performance Skills, Perceived Psychological Support, and Psycho-Competitiveness. The internal consistency of the items for Psychological Skills Scale for Hockey Players and Cricketers was determined by using Cronbach's alpha that emerged .94 for final 84 items, whereas, Psycho-Performance Skills, Perceived Psychological Support, and Psycho-Competitiveness had .92, .90, and .87 reliability; respectively. Further researches can be conducted to confirm these three factors extracted through this study by including other sports or considering various other psychological skills of hockey players and cricketers. This research would be helpful for Pakistan Hockey Federation and Pakistan Cricket Board to determine psychological profiling of cricketers and develop psychological profiling system based on the results of Psychological Skills Scale for hockey players and cricketers.