Validation of Persian Version of Automatic Self-Talk Questionnaire for Sports (ASTQS)

This study was conducted to validate the Automatic Self-Talk Questionnaire for Sports. Therefore, 332 athletes (181 male and 150 female) were randomly selected. The questionnaire was first introduced by Nikos Zurbanus et al (2009) and includes 39 questions on a 5-pont Likert that encompasses eight subscales such as mental, anxiety control, confidence, instruction, worry, freedom from disengagement, somatic fatigue, and irrelevant thoughts. The first four dimensions are positive self-talk and the next four dimensions are negative self-talk. Exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the construct validity of the questionnaire. Moreover, to examine the internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was obtained 78. Besides, using confirmatory factor analysis, in order to determine the model fitness, Goodness of Fit Index, Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index, Comparative Fit Index, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation, and Root Mean Square Residual were applied. Results showed that Automatic Self-Talk Questionnaire for Sports had an appropriate reliability and validity that could be helpful in conducting studies about psychological state of athletes.