Abstract
The Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 (ACSI-28) is a validated psychometric tool used to identify skills to be included in psychological skills training programs, and for predicting sports injuries, clutch performers, and survival in sports. The ACSI-28 has been used with predominantly competitive, team-based athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the ACSI-28 to determine its suitability for use with individual recreational runners (RRs). Our sample included 364 adult runners, of which 308 self assessed themselves as RR and 56 as competitive runners. Overall, they had been running between one to 50 years (M = 10.80, SD = 9.97), and had completed events of various distances ranging from 5km (90%) to full marathon (42.2 km, 43%). Factor analyses of the RR data retained only 4-factors (Goal Setting and Planning, Confidence and Motivation, Freedom From Worry, and Peaking Under Pressure) from the original 7-factor structure, and these were consolidated into the 3-factor ACSI-RR (15, 3) model. Overall the results indicate that the original ACSI-28 may not be as suitable for RRs as the much smaller ACSI-RR (15, 3) model, which offered superior data fit. Implications of these findings and direction for future research will be discussed.
