Reliability and validity of the perceived variety support in physical education scale among chinese school-attending adolescents

In recent years, research on perceived variety support in physical education has received increasing attention. There is a clear need to translate the Perceived Variety Support in Physical Education Scale (PVSPES) into other languages. This study translated the PVSPES scale into Chinese and examined its reliability and validity through empirical analysis. A total of 1,182 high school students (mean age = 16.04 ± 0.9 years) from six schools in Shanghai, China, participated in the study. All participants completed the PVSPES questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the data were well suited for factor analysis (KMO = 0.942; Bartlett’s test of sphericity, p < 0.001). The results supported a single latent factor model, with item factor loadings ranging from 0.68 to 0.86. The confirmatory factor analysis supported a single-factor solution (CFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.08). The scale was also validated across different gender groups. It showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.93) and strong test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.94). These results provide initial evidence for the validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the PVSPES in the present sample of Chinese high school students.