Advancing Athletic Identity Measurement: Application of the Rasch Rating Scale Model

Athletic identity represents one of the most widely studied constructs in sport and exercise psychology, yet measurement approaches have remained exclusively grounded in Classical Test Theory, which is limited by sample-dependent statistics and a lack of item-level precision. To address this methodological gap, we present the application of the Rasch Rating Scale Model to athletic identity measurement, examining the psychometric properties of a 4-item Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS-4;) in 716 competitive South Korean student-athletes. The AIMS-4 demonstrated strong reliability and acceptable fit; however, collapsing the traditional 7-point scale into a 5-point format improved precision. The item-person map also revealed limited coverage for individuals with higher levels of latent trait (logit > 4), indicating the need for more difficult items to fully capture athletic identity. These findings provide novel psychometric insights and implications in refining athletic identity measurement beyond Classical Test Theory.