ATHLETE IDENTIFICATION LEVEL SCALE (AILS): VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY STUDY

This study aims to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool to determine the level of athlete-athlete identification by determining which features athletes consider when identifying with other athletes they bond with. Within the scope of "qualitative steps", focus group interviews and essay writing; within the scope of "quantitative steps", assumption analyses and validity and reliability analyses were included for the form organized by the Lawshe technique and the test form of the scale. After the expert opinions, the 68-item item pool was reduced to 66 items and applied to 930 active athletes with a 5-point Likert scale (5=Very important, ... 1=Not important at all) with a trial form. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted with the observations obtained, data were collected again with the 4-factor 26-item structure and Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted with 813 observations. After factor naming with rational criteria, Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficients were calculated as .94 for the sub-dimension of "Athletic Identity" (n=12), .82 for the sub-dimension of "Image and Career Maturity" (n=6), .85 for the sub-dimension of "Social Values" (n=4), .70 for the sub-dimension of "Communication Skills" (n=4) and .90 for the whole scale. The explained variance rate is 56.95%. While the motivation of the study is that the scales in the literature are at the fan-athlete or fan-team level and the determination of athlete-athlete identification is seen as a deficiency, the goal of closing this gap reveals the importance of the study. This study, conducted to determine the athlete-athlete identification levels of active athletes, revealed that the Athlete Identification Level Scale (AISL) is a valid and reliable scale according to the results obtained.