Development and validation of the football emotion scale for Chinese youth players: a psychometric study

BackgroundEmotions play a crucial role in youth football performance and development, yet no validated instrument exists for measuring football-specific emotions among young players. This study aimed to develop and validate the Football Emotion Scale (FES) for Chinese youth football players.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among youth football players in China. The study included 492 participants in the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) phase (males 51.8%, females 48.2%) and 450 participants in the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) phase (males 52.2%, females 47.8%). Participants were recruited through purposive sampling from 12 cities across Shandong Province. The scale’s psychometric properties were evaluated using Content Validity Index (CVI), Face Validity Index (FVI), EFA, CFA, Composite Reliability (CR), Average Variance Extracted (AVE), Cronbach’s alpha, and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC).ResultsThe EFA identified a six-factor structure explaining 67.027% of the total variance. The CFA confirmed this structure and supported a second-order model with two higher-order factors. Both models demonstrated excellent fit indices (RMSEA = 0.033, CFI = 0.971, TLI = 0.968, SRMR = 0.037). The scale showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.793, 0.894) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.703, 0.915). Construct validity was satisfactory, with composite reliability ranging from 0.793 to 0.894 and appropriate inter-factor correlations.ConclusionThe newly developed FES, consisting of 26 items, demonstrates robust psychometric properties and provides a valid and reliable tool for assessing football-specific emotions among Chinese youth players, facilitating research on emotional experiences and informing interventions to enhance player development and wellbeing.