Initial Development and Psychometric Evidence of Physical Education Grit Scale (PE-Grit)

Noomen Guelmami; Nasr Chalghaf; Amayra Tannoubi; Luca Puce; Fairouz Azaiez; Nicola Luigi Bragazzi

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.818749

Initial Development and Psychometric Evidence of Physical Education Grit Scale (PE-Grit)

Front Public Health. 2022 Mar 3:10:818749. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.818749. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Noomen Guelmami^{1

2

3}, Nasr Chalghaf^{1

2

4}, Amayra Tannoubi^{1

2

3

4}, Luca Puce⁵, Fairouz Azaiez^{1

2

4}, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi^{1

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Postgraduate School of Public Health, Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
² Group for the Study of Development and Social Environment (GEDES), Faculty of Human and Social Science of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
³ Department of Human and Social Sciences, Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Kef, University of Jendouba, Jendouba, Tunisia.
⁴ Department of Human Sciences, Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.
⁵ Department of Neuroscience, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
⁶ Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (LIAM), York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁷ Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Background: Grit is a key concept in positive psychology and educational science. The construct measures two related constructs that are interest and effort. Several instruments have been developed to measure this construct in professional and educational contexts, but no tools have been developed considering specific contexts such as physical education and sport.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to develop and test a measurement scale to assess Grit in the context of physical education and sport.

Methods: Two exploratory (Phase 1) and confirmatory (Phase 2) samples were administered the 16-item PE-Grit scale in Arabic. In addition, the confirmatory sample also was administered the R-SPQ-2F two-factor learning approaches scale. The factor structure was examined first by exploratory factor analysis on the first sample and then by confirmatory factor analysis on the second sample. Reliability testing was performed by checking internal consistency simultaneously by the three indices: McDonald's ω, Cronbach's α and Gutmann's λ6. Concurrent validity was checked by Pearson's correlation between the PE-Grit and the two dimensions of the SPQ-2F.

Results: After the exploratory factor analysis, which identified the factors and gave a preliminary validation of the designed instrument, confirmatory factor analysis was performed on three hierarchical models to be able to identify the best fitting model. A third-order hierarchical model with two physical and academic components each formed by interest and effort presented the best fit indices: chi X2 = 192.95 (p < 0.01), and the X2/DF = 1.36; GFI = 0.99; AGFI = 0.99; CFI and TLI close to 1; RMSEA = 0.025. In addition, McDonald's ω, internal consistency, and Gutmann's λ6 ranged from 0.78 to 0.86 for all four scale dimensions.

Conclusion: The PE-Grit scale displays adequate factor structure, good reliability, and acceptable concurrent validity and can be administered to assess Grit in physical education and sport students.

Keywords: Grit; physical education and sports; scale development; scale validation; students.

MeSH terms

Factor Analysis, Statistical
Humans
Physical Education and Training*
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires