Validation of the Conduct in Sport toward Opponents Scale (CSOS)

Yukhymenko-Lescroart (2015, Is winning the only thing? Development of the Conduct in Sport toward Opponent Scale (CSOS). Athletic Insight - The Online Journal of Sport Psychology) created and provided initial content validity and reliability for the Conduct in Sport toward Opponent Scale (CSOS), which captures the frequency of sportsmanship, gamesmanship, and instrumental aggression that athletes exhibit toward opponents. This systematic replication of the Yukhymenko-Lescroart (2015) study provided additional evidence of construct and content validity and reliability for the CSOS with a targeted group of 482 competitive student-athletes participating in varsity team sports in Division 1 schools. Construct validity was established by confirming a three-factor structure of the CSOS and examining shared variance between the factors representing the CSOS subscales. Criterion validity was evident based on significant paths between task- and ego-orientation goals and sportsmanship, gamesmanship, and instrumental aggression. The CSOS subscales showed an adequate internal consistency. The scale is suggested as a reasonable measure of self-reported conduct of varsity student-athletes participating in Division I team sports.