Mexican Validation of the Engagement and Disaffection in Physical Education Scale

Abstract

To date, no instrument adapted and validated that measures engagement and disaffection in the physical education class has been found, which limits the generation of knowledge of this area in Mexico. The aims of this study were to translate and adapt the engagement and disaffection scale to the context of physical education in Mexico and to examine its reliability, structure (two and four factors), and factorial invariance by gender in Mexican fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students. A total of 1470 students participated (50.6% boys) with ages between 10 and 14 years (mean (M) = 10.56; standard deviation (SD) = 0.77) from federal (89.3%) and state (10.7%) elementary schools. Two factorial structures were tested (with four factors and two factors). The fit indexes of both models were satisfactory, and the factorial saturations were significant. The differences between the fit indexes of both models were irrelevant; therefore, the two-factor model was considered more suitable. The total strict invariance by gender was confirmed, and the reliabilities of the engagement and disaffection scale were acceptable. The Mexican version of the course engagement and disaffection scale in physical education is valid and useful to measure these constructs in the context of physical education in Mexico.