Psychometric assessment of the Spanish version of the SLIM (Serious Leisure Inventory and Measure) in sporting contexts

Abstract

The serious leisure explains the commitment and involvement in leisure practices in order to acquire and express the skills needed to carry them out. The SLIM (Serious Leisure Inventory and Measure) is an instrument used to the measure and evaluate of this concept. The main objective of this study is to analyze the psychometric characteristics and structural validity of the SLIM. Involved in the study 232 amateur sportspeople who were administered the 54-item version of SLIM. For the construct validity, theoretical models proposed by Gould, Moore, Karlin, Gaede, Walker and Dotterweich (2011) through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were tested. The measure model offered very appropriate fit index (χ²(9) = 15,23, p = ,087, χ²/df = 3,29, GFI = ,97, CFI = ,98, SRMR = ,04, RMSEA = ,05 [,02-,09]) with Composite Reliability index between ,71 and ,86. A second model, called inventory, initially did not have a good fit and was redefined getting a new three-factor model that adequately explain the serious leisure benefits (χ²(49) = 126,36, p <0,001, χ²/df = 2,86, GFI = ,92, CFI = ,93, SRMR = ,06, RMSEA = ,078 [,05-,10]). The study results show adequate psychometric characteristics of SLIM and the possibility of being used as an indicator of serious leisure in sports.