Portuguese Validation of the Youth Sport Environment Questionnaire (YSEQ) for the Physical Education Context

Group cohesion is a prominent feature of sport involvement and small group work. Despite long-standing research interest and varied conceptualizations across fields, studies have primarily focused on sports. Research in educational contexts, particularly in physical education (PE), has been limited, even though PE offers an environment conducive to fostering diverse opportunities that promote group cohesion. This study sought to adapt and validate the Portuguese version of the Youth Sport Environment Questionnaire (YSEQ) using confirmatory factor analysis. The participants were 460 Portuguese-speaking PE students (58.9% girls, aged 14–19) who completed the YSEQ. After removing four items, the confirmatory factor analysis validated the two-factor structure of the YSEQ, supporting its appropriateness for the Portuguese context. This adapted 14-item YSEQ showed metric invariance across gender, and its two dimensions exhibited good internal consistency and convergent and discriminant validity. Significant correlations between the YSEQ and social affiliation scores confirmed the YSEQ’s concurrent validity. These findings suggest that the adapted Portuguese YSEQ is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring group cohesion in physical education. This instrument allows teachers, researchers, and sports psychologists to better understand group dynamics, assess task and social cohesion in middle and secondary PE classes, and identify potential difficulties in this area.