Development and initial validation of athletes' perceptions of coach-related critical attitudes scale

The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Athletes' Perceptions of the Coach-related Critical Attitudes Scale (APoCCAS), using three independent samples of Portuguese adult athletes. In the first stage, the items were developed to assess athletes' perceptions of coach-related critical attitudes and the items' factorial structure were explored via a principal components analysis. In a second stage, the findings of Principal Components Analysis were confirmed and cross-validated using confirmatory factor analysis with two independent samples of athletes. The development of a pool of items resulted in a 10-item with a unifactorial structure. This scale presented high internal consistency, adequate convergent validity, and presented a negative association with self-reassurance and positive associations with self-criticism, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. The APoCCAS demonstrated to be a short and reliable measure of the athletes' perceptions regarding coach-related critical attitudes and seems to be useful for practice and research fields in clinical sport psychology. By highlighting the associations between the athletes' perception of coach-related critical attitudes and mental health indicators, this study could create a space to alert coaches towards the effect of their attitudes on athletes' mental health.