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SPQ20 Research and Evidence
Explore the research, development and independent reviews behind the SPQ20, and discover how the evidence supports informed coaching and athlete development.
A research foundation for informed coaching
The SPQ20 brings together sport psychology research, a structured development process and independent professional review. The manual documents the framework, the reference sample and studies of reliability and validity, giving coaches and sport psychologists a clear foundation for interpreting profiles and planning development conversations. Explore how the SPQ20 relates to other models, then examine the evidence and supporting resources below.
The SPQ20 approach
A broad picture of the athlete’s mental game
The SPQ20 combines personality, motivation, emotional resilience, people skills and practical mental techniques in one 20-scale profile. Its breadth helps coaches connect an athlete’s competitive approach with specific development priorities.
How does it compare with other models?
Section 1.5 of the manual identifies shared foundations: achievement drive, confidence and emotional regulation, relationships, and psychological skills. The models organise these foundations differently.
| Framework | Emphasis | Connection with the SPQ20 |
|---|---|---|
| Fletcher and Sarkar (2012) | Resilience under stress among Olympic champions. | Shared attention to personality, motivation, confidence, focus and social support. |
| Jones et al. (2007) | Mental toughness, sporting demands and performance strategies. | Shared emphasis on belief, motivation, pressure management and focus. |
| Clough et al. (2002), MTQ48 | Challenge, commitment, control and confidence. | SPQ20 also measures imagery, goal setting and self-talk separately. |
| Lesyk (1998) | Nine skills for development, preparation and competition. | Shared coverage of motivation, relationships, imagery, self-talk and emotional management. |
Practical value: the SPQ20 integrates these overlapping themes into a detailed assessment for focused coaching conversations.
Development and the EFPA Review Model
The European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) Test Review Model provides a common framework for describing and evaluating psychological tests. It helps reviewers and test users examine the evidence supporting an assessment and judge its suitability for a particular purpose.
What does the model examine?
| Area | What it means for the user |
|---|---|
| Purpose and design | What the test measures, who it is intended for and how it is administered and scored. |
| Norms | Whether the comparison group is described and appropriate for interpreting results. |
| Reliability and precision | How consistently scores are measured and how much uncertainty they contain. |
| Validity | Whether evidence supports the proposed interpretation and use of scores. |
| Materials and reports | The quality of instructions, documentation and feedback. |
| Fair use | Whether the assessment is appropriate across relevant groups and circumstances. |
How this relates to the SPQ20
The SPQ20 was designed to meet the key criteria of the EFPA Review Model referenced in its development documentation. The manual describes the development process and presents evidence on norms, reliability and validity. The model provides a structured basis for examining the quality and practical suitability of the assessment. Alignment with the development criteria is distinct from EFPA certification; later revisions provide an updated framework for review.
Reference sample
The SPQ20 norms draw on a substantial reference pool: 8,927 eligible online respondents aged 16–65, with a balanced sample of 6,000 men and women selected for score comparisons. Chapter 6 describes the sample and score conversion in detail, helping practitioners interpret an athlete’s profile against a documented reference group. The data were collected in 2003–2010, so suitability for the athlete’s current context should be considered.
Reliability
The manual provides internal-consistency estimates for the scales, making the precision of the assessment open to examination. Table 5 reports alpha coefficients from 0.63 to 0.82, with a median of 0.72. These estimates help practitioners judge the consistency of items within each scale and interpret results with appropriate care; they do not measure stability over time.
Validity
Chapter 5 brings together several strands of validity evidence, examining the factor structure, relationships with other measures and associations with reported sporting performance. Two performance studies involved 215 and 257 respondents. Together, these studies give practitioners material for evaluating the meaning and relevance of the scores. The performance evidence includes coach ratings reported by athletes, rather than ratings collected directly from coaches.
Independent reviews
The SPQ20 has been independently reviewed by Buros (2011) and the British Psychological Society (2012). The manual summarises favourable observations alongside recommendations for further research. These reviews add an external professional perspective to the development evidence and help practitioners assess the questionnaire’s contribution to their work.
Buros Center for Testing
Purchase the independent SPQ20 review through the Buros Online Shop, hosted by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Purchase the Buros SPQ20 review ↗The full independent reviews are available through the organisations above, with access, prices and terms set by each provider.
What the SPQ20 User Manual contains
The 2016 manual brings together the assessment’s conceptual background, practical instructions, interpretation guidance and technical evidence. The following overview follows its seven chapters. Page references refer to the printed page numbers in the PDF.
| Chapter | Pages | What you will find |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Introduction | 4–13 | Purpose, sport psychology background, the four-factor framework, comparisons with other approaches, development and independent reviews. |
| 2. Administration | 14 | Professional administration, individual access, online scoring and report delivery. |
| 3. Scale descriptions | 15–36 | Interpretive descriptions for all 20 scales and impression management, example items and relationships between scales. |
| 4. Interpretation and feedback | 37–42 | Standard Ten scores, profile interpretation, the executive summary, mental-skills and leadership matrices, scorecards and development guidance. |
| 5. Reliability and validity | 43–56 | Internal consistency, measurement error, scale relationships, factor analysis, validation studies, reported performance, response style and demographic associations. |
| 6. Norms | 57–61 | The comparison group’s composition, score conversion and reference tables. |
| 7. References | 62–64 | Sources supporting the conceptual background and technical discussion. |
1. Purpose, framework and development
The opening chapter explains how the SPQ20 combines personality characteristics and mental skills within a sport-focused framework. It describes the four broad areas: Achievement and Competitiveness, Confidence and Resilience, Interaction and Sportsmanship, and Power and Aggressiveness.
It also compares the framework with other approaches to mental toughness and sporting resilience, then outlines the development sequence: literature review, trial items, statistical analysis, norms, independent review and further validation.
2. Administration and access
This chapter distinguishes an assessment arranged by a coach or sport psychologist from one purchased directly by an athlete. It explains the online completion process, scoring and feedback-report access. Professionals should also consult the current platform instructions because the manual describes the service as documented in 2016.
3. Understanding each scale
Each scale has descriptions of low, moderate and high results, example questionnaire items and information about its strongest relationships with other scales. The chapter covers achievement, adaptability, competitiveness, conscientiousness, visualization, intuition, goal setting, managing pressure, self-efficacy, fear of failure, flow, stress management, emotions, self-talk, self-awareness, ethics, empathy, relationships, aggressiveness and power. A separate impression-management scale concerns response style.
These detailed descriptions help practitioners move from a scale name to a clear, specific understanding of an athlete’s result, providing a useful basis for focused feedback and discussion.
4. Scores and the feedback report
The manual explains the 1–10 Standard Ten (sten) scale and how results are presented in the report. It describes the executive summary, the overall mental-skills matrix, the leadership-potential matrix, factor and individual-scale scorecards, narrative feedback and development suggestions.
The matrices organise combinations of characteristics into an accessible visual profile, helping athletes and coaches discuss patterns, recognise strengths and identify development priorities. Interpret them as a picture of the athlete’s reported approach, with room for context and change.
5. The technical evidence
The largest technical chapter examines several different questions: how consistently items within each scale work together; how much uncertainty surrounds a score; how scales relate to one another; and whether statistical patterns support the proposed framework.
It also discusses relationships with personality, resilience and imagery marker variables, associations with reported athletic performance, the effect of impression management, and associations with age and gender. These complementary strands help practitioners examine the assessment from several perspectives and make informed use of the results.
6. The comparison group and score conversion
The norms chapter describes the athletes used to establish comparison scores, including their ages, gender balance, countries and sporting backgrounds. It explains conversion from raw scores to standardised scores and provides reference tables. This helps users judge how closely the comparison population fits the athlete being assessed.
7. Supporting references
The closing bibliography identifies the literature behind the framework and the technical discussion. Practitioners can use it to investigate the theoretical background and distinguish the assessment’s own studies from wider sport psychology research.
Source: SPQ20 User Manual, 2016 edition. The figures and study summaries on this page come from that edition.
Putting the evidence to work
Use the SPQ20 profile to open a focused conversation about strengths, challenges and development goals. Explore the athlete’s own examples and connect the results with training observations and performance evidence. Consider the athlete’s age, sport, competitive level and circumstances when interpreting comparisons, and treat small score differences with care. For athletes outside the documented age range, discuss suitability before using norm comparisons.
The strongest practical use is a collaborative development process: interpret the profile together, agree priorities and review progress. As a self-report assessment, the SPQ20 should not be the sole basis for selection or diagnosis. The published studies and independent reviews do not establish that using the assessment itself improves performance.