Validation of the Mental Skills Test – football (MST-f) questionnaire: An exploratory factor analysis

Abstract

The focus on and use of organized sports psychology programs within Norwegian football is growing and this project will hopefully be a valuable addition to create even further interest for the discipline. To be able to develop effective programs, there is a need for precise assessment tools so that change in skills can be monitored. This thesis examines the precision and validity of one of these assessment tools, namely the Mental Skills Test-Questionnaire (MST) developed by Pensgaard & Hollingen, (2004). MST exists in a general version and also more sport-specific versions, and it was a football version of the MST (MST-f) that was used here.

By using exploratory factor analysis, the thesis revealed that the original 6-factor structure of the MST-f -Questionnaire was not supported, but rather a 3-factor solutions, indicating a possible higher order structure. More research is needed involving a larger sample to determine if this new factor solution is more precise than the original structure.