Flow Experience in Sport: Construct Validation of Multidimensional, Hierarchical State and Trait Responses

Three hundred eighty-five athletes from the 1994 World Masters Games completed the 9-factor Flow State Scale (Jackson & Marsh, 1996), anew trait version of the instrument, and external validity criteria. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tested alternative 1st-order and higher order models of responses to each instrument separately, to combined responses from the 2 instruments, and to responses augmented by external validity criteria. There was good support for the construct validity of state and trait flow responses in that a priori 9-factor (for each instrument separately) and 18-factor (for the 2 instruments) models Fit the data well, correlations were substantially higher between matching trait and state factors than between nonmatching factors, and external state and trait validity criteria were predictably related to specific state and trait flow factors. Whereas higher order models positing global trait and state factors could not be distinguished from corresponding 1st-order models when responses to each instrument were considered separately, the higher order models fared poorly when state and trait factors were related to each other and to the external criteria. This CFA approach to construct validity may have broad applicability for evaluating multidimensional, hierarchical constructs and for comparing the relative usefulness of 1st-order and higher order representations of such constructs.