Assessing the validity of the weight pressures in sport scale for male athletes

Male athletes are subject to sociocultural pressures to attain a lean and muscular physique (e.g., media images), as well as weight pressures from the sport environment (e.g., performance). The purpose of our study was to examine the validity and reliability of a scale designed to measure sport-specific weight pressures in male athletes, the Weight Pressures in Sport Scale for Male Athletes (WPS-M). We examined the factorial validity of the WPS-M, and established the factors' reliability. Further, we tested the convergent and concurrent validity of the WPS-M factors through associations with the theoretically related constructs of body satisfaction, internalization, drive for muscularity, dietary restraint, bulimic symptomology, and general weight pressures for men. Finally, we determined the factors' incremental validity by examining the extent to which the WPS-M factors predicted relevant outcomes beyond that determined by general sociocultural pressures about weight, body, and appearance. Participants were 698 male intercollegiate athletes from multiple states, sports, and competitive levels. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed three latent factors: (a) Coach/Teammate Pressures about Weight, (b) Importance of Body Weight and Appearance, and (c) Pressures about Weight and Body due to the Sport Uniform. Relationships with related constructs were mostly significant and in the expected direction. Regression analyses supported the utility of the WPS-M for predicting variance in disordered eating beyond that determined by general sociocultural weight pressures. In the future, researchers should employ longitudinal designs and recruit diverse samples of male athletes in order to assess temporal relationships and measurement invariance.