Organic Self-Talk Questionnaire for Sport: development and validation of a theory-based, state measure of athletes’ organic self-talk

ABSTRACT

A contemporary, theory-based conceptualisation of self-talk in sport (Latinjak, Hatzigeorgiadis, et al., [2019]. Speaking clearly … 10 years on: The case for an integrative perspective of self-talk in sport. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 8(4), 353–367. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000160) has distinguished between two main types of athletes’ organic self-talk: spontaneous self-talk (an uncontrolled type of self-talk) and goal-directed self-talk (a controlled type of self-talk). However, these contemporary organic self-talk distinctions have not yet been operationalised to allow assessment suitable for quantitative research. The aim of this investigation was to develop and validate the Organic Self-Talk Questionnaire for Sport (OSTQS), a new theory-grounded, self-report measure, designed to assess the content and structure of athletes’ organic, spontaneous and goal-directed self-talk at a state level during sport participation. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, a prospective instrument was developed based upon the operational definitions of athletes’ spontaneous and goal-directed self-talk in sport, and raw data collected from athletes in this study through open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. In Study 2, the psychometric properties of the developed questionnaire were tested through examination of factorial validity, discriminant validity, and reliability. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) revealed an adequate fit of a 17-item four-factor correlated model for spontaneous self-talk and a 28-item seven-factor correlated model for goal-directed self-talk; as well as the superiority of these models over their respective single-factor and hierarchical models. Furthermore, discriminant validity and reliability analyses of the subscale scores provided further evidence regarding the psychometric integrity of the instrument. Overall, the OSTQS seems a valid and reliable scale that could help us further enhance our understanding regarding athletes’ organic self-talk, its antecedents, and its consequences.

KEYWORDS:

• Inner speech
• automatic self-talk
• spontaneous self-talk dimensions
• goal-directed self-talk functions
• scale development

Acknowledgements

We would like to greatly thank all the participants for investing the time to participate in our studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Role of the funding source

The funder had no involvement in the design and conduct of the study; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by a PhD studentship awarded to Aristea Karamitrou, co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) through the Operational Programme “Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning” in the context of the project “Strengthening Human Resources Research Potential via Doctorate Research” [MIS-5000432], implemented by the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY).