Assessment of convergent validity and reliability of instruments for measuring anxiety level in water using sport competition anxiety test modification, observation of behavior, and test performance

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the convergent validity and reliability of instruments for measuring the level of anxiety in water using the Sport Competition Anxiety Test Modification (SCAT-M) instrument, anxiety behavior observation (ABO) and performance test (PT) as predictors. The participants were 60 college students, men (n = 44) and women (n = 16) (age range: 19–22 years), who could not swim 25 m. The descriptive analysis included the average, standar deviation (SD), and range; the inferential analysis of validity with internal validity for each instrument with a total score was based on the bivariate Person correlation. The obtained results included the intraclass correlations coefficient SCAT-M r = 0.562, (moderate), AOB r = 0.838 (high), and PT r = 0.559 (moderate). Reliability test-retest (separated by 1 week) SCAT-M r = 0.841(high), AOB r = 0.914 (very high), and PT r = 0.904 (very high). The validity predictive instrument SCAT-M, which is used to evaluate high anxiety and performance, exhibited the predictive validity of r = −0.043 (p = 0.02 < 0.05); it showed significant relationship but negative correlation and low performance. The AOB instrument, which is used to evaluate high anxiety and performance, showed significant correlation but negative r = −0.185 (p = 0.01 < 0.05), in the category of low level of performance. Validity predictive analysis has significant but negative relationship. Students with high level of anxiety, determined by both SCAT-M or ABO instruments, have low performance, can only submerge their head in the water, and have some floating ability. Conclusion: the measurement of water anxiety level using both the SCAT-M questionnaire and behavioral observation allows to determine the anxiety level of students in water and predict their basic swimming abilities.