Multi-sample confirmatory factor analysis of the task and ego orientation in sport questionnaire

The Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda, 1989; Duda & Nicholls, 1992) was designed to assess individual differences in the proneness for task and ego involvement in athletic settings. The purpose of this study was to independently and simultaneously test the measurement model assumed to underlie the TEOSQ across intercollegiate athletes (n = 143), college students enrolled in skill classes (n = 270), high school athletes (n = 310), and junior high school sport participants (n = 234). Single-sample confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to establish and to evaluate the tenability of a baseline model in terms of each sample. A series of multi-sample CFAs were then conducted to test the invariance of the measurement and factor structure of the TEOSQ across the four groups. The measures of overall fit for the hypothetical two-factor structure of the TEOSQ were generally acceptable, albeit weaker in the case of the college students. Further, the results of the multisample CFA did not support the assumption for intergroup invariance of the TEOSQ. This finding indicated that the 13 items and structure of the TEOSQ were not equally valid across the present four samples.