Development and psychometric evaluation of the Chinese school football transition social support scale among adolescents: evidence from a predominantly central China sample

Background Social support received by adolescent student-athletes may influence whether they continue participating in sport. However, the existing evaluation tools mainly focus on interpersonal relationships such as family, coaches and peers. In China's school-football system, adolescents' participation is also shaped by institutional conditions, and existing instruments may be insufficient for assessing perceived support. Therefore, there is a need to develop a context-sensitive assessment tool. Methods A total of 541 adolescents were included, of whom 93.2% were recruited from Central China. Ecological systems theory guided the conceptual organization of the five social-support sources assessed by the scale. Scale items were generated based on a literature review, expert reviews, and student cognitive interviews. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were utilized within a multi-stage cross-validation design to evaluate the scale's structure. Test-retest reliability and measurement invariance were examined to confirm stability and equivalence. Furthermore, known-groups comparisons, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were conducted to assess the scale's capacity to distinguish between continuing and dropout groups. Results The finalized Chinese School Football Transition Social Support Scale (C-SSST-SF) consists of 26 items capturing five distinct dimensions: governmental, school, family, coach, and peer support. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated acceptable fit for the five-factor model ( χ 2 /df = 1.62, CFI = 0.936, TLI = 0.928, RMSEA = 0.048, SRMR = 0.050). The scale demonstrated strong internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.828–0.923) and stable 2-week test-retest reliability. Furthermore, after establishing scalar invariance, results indicated that dropouts perceived significantly less support across all dimensions compared to their continuing peers. Conclusions The C-SSST-SF demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in the present sample and may provide a context-sensitive measure of perceived interpersonal and institutional support during the school-football transition. Supplementary classification analyses provided preliminary evidence of differences by participation status, but the limited sensitivity does not support use of the scale as a standalone screening tool. Broader geographic validation is needed before its applicability across Chinese school-football populations can be established.