The Group Environment Questionnaire: A Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) is a measure of group cohesion that has a long history of use in sports psychology and group research. However, researchers often fail to account for the hierarchical nature of group data in their analysis, leading to statistical aggregation biases. This study used multilevel confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate the factorial validity of the GEQ at the individual and group levels simultaneously, using a sample of 519 netball players from 56 New Zealand semi-elite and elite teams. Results supported a four-factor model, based on the four subscales of the GEQ, at each level. Factor loadings for the final multilevel model were stronger at the group level, compared with the individual level, suggesting that cohesion is a group-level construct. This study provides evidence for the multilevel factorial validity of the GEQ and suggests that group-level analysis and interpretation should be emphasized in future research.