Validity and usefulness of the student-athletes' motivation toward sport and academics questionnaire: a Bayesian multilevel approach

Ricardo T Quinaud; Carlos E Gonçalves; Kauana Possamai; Cristiano Zarbato Morais; Laura Capranica; Humberto M Carvalho

doi:10.7717/peerj.11863

Validity and usefulness of the student-athletes' motivation toward sport and academics questionnaire: a Bayesian multilevel approach

PeerJ. 2021 Jul 30:9:e11863. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11863. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ricardo T Quinaud¹, Carlos E Gonçalves², Kauana Possamai¹, Cristiano Zarbato Morais¹, Laura Capranica³, Humberto M Carvalho¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Education/ School of Sports, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
² Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
³ Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome "Foro Italico", Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Background: Reliable assessment and understanding of student-athletes' motivation for dual careers are crucial to support their career development and transitions. The purpose of this research was to examine the validity and usefulness of the student-athletes' motivation toward sport and academics questionnaire (SAMSAQ-PT) in the Brazilian higher education context. Four studies were performed.

Methods: In study one, conceptually and semantic translation of the questionnaire and Bayesian exploratory factor analysis were conducted. In study two, a Bayesian confirmatory factor analysis with an independent sample was performed. In study three, Bayesian multilevel modeling was applied to examine the construct validity of the questionnaire in a cross-sectional sample. In study four, the SAMSAQ-PT sensitiveness was examined in a longitudinal sample, and the results were interpreted based on multilevel regression and poststratification.

Results: Altogether the results provided evidence validity and usefulness of the SAMSAQ-PT in Brazilian student-athletes. The Brazilian student-athletes' motivation scores were sensitive to the influence of sex, sport level, and type of university on career and sport motivation. SAMSAQ-PT estimate scores across an academic year showed a trend of stability in the scores, adjusting for sex, sport level, type of university, and student-athlete status.

Conclusion: The SAMSAQ-PT proved to be a robust and valuable questionnaire, which could be used in Portuguese-speaking countries. The findings of the cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys urge to consider individual and contextual characteristics when investigating motivation of dual-career of athletes, also concerning the sex-related opportunities in university sports. Furthermore, there is a need for a call for action to promote and nurture the student-athletes motivation to remain engaged in both sports and educational commitments.

Keywords: Bayesian multilevel regression; Behavior; Dual-career; Education; Higher education; Post-stratification; Sports.

Grants and funding

Ricardo T. Quinaud was supported by a grant from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES (finance code 001). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.