A psychometric evaluation of the Group Environment Questionnaire in a sample of elite and regional level Greek volleyball players

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) adapted to the Greek language. The sample consisted of 586 male and female volleyball players of elite and regional level status. Data were analysed from three time points of a competitive season. For each time point, seven competing first-order and second-order factor structures were subjected to confirmatory factor analyses. The results revealed that the Greek GEQ demonstrated high internal reliability coefficients, good convergent validity and, for most of the competing models, acceptable fit indices. However, very high factor correlations rendered problematic the discriminant validity of the questionnaire. Multisample analyses examining the invariance of the seven models across competitive level and gender revealed that the models were largely invariant. Further psychometric testing is needed to examine whether the Greek GEQ relates to conceptually important personal and team correlates of group cohesion.