Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess the sports experimentation phase of young female football players (QEEF-FEM)

The development process of female football players involves understanding the pathways and experiences acquired during childhood and adolescence. In Brazil, instruments designed to assess these early sport experiences are scarce. Therefore, the present study aimed to construct and gather validity evidence for the Questionnaire on Sports Experiences in Women's Football (QEEF-Fem), a psychometric instrument grounded in the Personal Assets Framework (PAF), to evaluate the sport experimentation phase of young female athletes. The research was conducted in four stages: face validity, content validity, construct validity, and internal consistency. Initially, 45 items were developed and evaluated by athletes and experts. After two rounds of content validation, 38 items remained. For construct validation, 391 female athletes aged between 12 and 17 years (mean age 14.6 ± 1.8 years), representing 15 professional clubs from the southern region of Brazil, were recruited. Psychometric methods were employed to confirm and validate the QEEF-Fem, including Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with polychoric correlations, Bartlett's test of sphericity, and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measures. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, and composite reliability (CR). Results indicated satisfactory factor loadings across the three dimensions of the PAF: Personal Engagement in Activities, Quality Social Dynamics, and Appropriate Settings. Reliability indices reached acceptable thresholds for exploratory studies, confirming the stability of the instrument. Internal consistency indices ranged from Cronbach's α = 0.561 - 0.669, McDonald's ω = 0.554 - 0.618, and CR = 0.619 - 0.714, indicating borderline to acceptable reliability for exploratory research purposes. All analyses were conducted using JASP (0.95.2.0). It was concluded that the QEEF-Fem provides valid and reliable evidence to assess early sport experiences in female football, reflecting the interaction between personal, contextual, and relational dimensions of athlete development. The QEEF-Fem represents a culturally adapted tool that can be used to investigate developmental trajectories of young female football players in Brazil.