Sportive agoraphobia: scale development and validation

Introduction: The present study aimed to develop a valid and reliable instrument, the Sportive Agoraphobia Scale (SAS) to measure individuals' anxiety and avoidance behaviors related to social visibility, body image, and evaluative concerns in physical activity settings. Methods: Conducted within the general survey model, data were collected from 352 participants in four provinces of Türkiye. The scale development followed an established eight-step framework. An initial pool of 30 items was reduced to 24 based on expert feedback, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified a three-factor structure: (1) Psychosocial Participation Anxiety, (2) Social Evaluation Anxiety, and (3) Body Image-Based Anxiety. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted after removing four items with low factor loadings, resulting in a final 19-item version of the scale. Results: = 0.95) and across subdimensions (Factor I: α = 0.93, Factor II: α = 0.85, Factor III: α = 0.87). Discussion: The findings demonstrate that the Sportive Agoraphobia Scale is a psychometrically sound tool for assessing the multidimensional nature of anxiety stemming from social presence, fear of negative evaluation, and appearance-based concerns in exercise environments. The SAS offers practical implications for researchers, sport psychologists, and intervention designers aiming to understand and mitigate psychological anxiety to physical activity participation.