Advanced statistical models to handle response styles and uncertainty when modelling emotional intelligence of elite swimmers

Emotional intelligence is a key factor for success in sporting competitions, arousing great interest in the psychological assessment of athletes. When the evaluation of psychological behaviour relies on Likert-type psychometric scales, individuals could tend to respond to items regardless of their content or by selecting the extremes or the middle part of the response scale, compromising the measurement process. In this vein, the present paper aims to address measurement issues regarding uncertainty and response style during the assessment of emotional intelligence of elite swimmers by exploiting latent trait models. Results provide evidence in favour of models accounting for specific response behaviour compared to simple item response theory models.