Özet:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Turkish form of “Positive Youth Development Measurement Framework for Sport” PYD; Vierimaa et al., 2012 in terms of comprehensibility and content for young athletes. Cognitive interviews were conducted with 12 athletes with different ages 8 – 14 years; 5 girls, 7 boys in competitive sport context. The measurement framework is composed of five instruments that measure youths’ a competence Sport Competence Inventory , b confidence Sport Confidence Inventory , c connection Coach–Athlete Relationship Questionnaire and Peer Connection Inventory , and d character Athlete Behavior Scale . In order to help participants define their own cognitive processes during the application of the instruments, think-aloud technique was used. To further examine the extent that the participants understood the items of the instruments, verbal probing technique was used. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. The transcribed text was analyzed by using Thematic Analysis Sparkes & Smith, 2014 . The findings indicated that considerable amount of participants had difficulty in understanding the items of the instruments as well as distinguishing some of them from one another. Especially, younger participants under 12 years of age were found not to be able to understand the terms “pressure”, “sacrifice”, “feedback”, and “closeness”. According to Piaget’s 1970 theory of cognitive development, individuals progress through from the stage of concrete operations to the stage of formal operations between 11 and 12 years of age. From this perspective, it is suggested that the concepts used in the instruments examined may be abstract for younger participants. In the light of the findings, it may be more appropriate that the PYD measurement framework be used starting from 12 years of age

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