Construct validity of the Profile of Mood States - Adolescents for use with adults

Objectives: To extend the validation of the Profile of Mood States-Adolescents (POMS-A: J. Sports Sci. 17 (1999) 861-872) from adolescent to adult populations. Design: A strategy of assessing the invariance of the POMS-A factor structure among disparate samples and of testing relationships with concurrent measures was used. Methods: The POMS-A was administered to 2549 participants from four samples: adult athletes prior to competition (n=621), adult student athletes in a classroom (n=656), adolescent athletes prior to competition (n=676), and adolescent students in a classroom (n=596). A subset of 382 adult student athletes was used to test the criterion validity of the POMS-A. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the factorial validity of a 24-item, six-factor model using both independent and multi-sample analyses. Relationships between POMS-A scores and previously validated measures, that were consistent with theoretical predictions, supported criterion validity. Conclusion: Evidence was found in support of the psychometric integrity of the POMS-A when extended from adolescent to adult populations. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.