The Subjective Exercise Experiences Scale (SEES): Development and Preliminary Validation

Abstract

This paper documents the development and validation of the three-factor Subjective Exercise Experiences Scale (SEES), a measure of global psychological responses to the stimulus properties of exercise. Two of these factors correspond to the positive and negative poles associated with psychological health, Positive Weil-Being and Psychological Distress, whereas the third factor represents subjective indicants of Fatigue. The three-factor structure originally established by exploratory factor analysis using young adults was also supported in middle-aged exercising adults using confirmatory factor analytic techniques. Moreover, convergent and discriminant validity for the SEES subscales was demonstrated by examining relations with measures of affect regularly employed in exercise domain. The SEES may represent a useful starting point for more thoroughly examining exercise and subjective responses at the global level, and these dimensions of the scale may represent possible antecedents of specific affective responsivity.