# Interpersonal behaviors in sports context: Spanish adaptation and measurement invariance

## TL;DR

This paper adapts a questionnaire measuring interpersonal behaviors in sports to Spanish and confirms its reliability and validity across different groups.

## Contribution

The study provides a validated Spanish version of the IBQ and confirms its factorial invariance across gender and sport type.

## Key findings

- Confirmatory factor analysis supported a six-factor structure of the IBQ.
- Factorial invariance was confirmed across gender and sport type.
- Discriminant validity between certain factors is questionable.

## Abstract

The interpersonal behavior questionnaire (IBQ) is an instrument that measures support and thwarting interpersonal behaviors based on the self-determination theory (SDT). The aim of this work was to adapt the IBQ to the Spanish spoken in Mexico and to examine its psychometric properties (structural validity, discriminant validity, composite reliability, factorial invariance, and nomological validity) in a sample of athletes.

For this purpose, 472 athletes (average age 17.15 years; SD = 1.47) completed a question booklet.

Confirmatory factor analysis supported the structure of six related factors, three factors of behaviors that support autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and three factors of behaviors that thwarting them. The internal consistency of each factor was also supported, as well as the average variance extracted. However, the discriminant validity between the factors of competence and relatedness in their dimensions of support, on the one hand, and thwarting, on the other, is questioned. Factorial invariance was confirmed across gender (men and women) and sport type (individual and team). Nomological validity is in accordance with theory and empirical literature. More studies of the IBQ in sport are necessary to see if these results are a fortuitous product or if they manifest themselves consistently.