Adaptation of the Love-Hate Scale for Sports Fans into Turkish: A validity and reliability study

Abstract

Introduction: This research has been conducted so it can help to understand the feelings of love and hatred towards the opposing team and their supporters of football club fans and to determine and control the fans' aggression. Objective: This study aims to adapt the Love-Hate Scale for Sports Fans (LHSSF) to the Turkish context to evaluate the fanatic (love and hate) feelings of football fans. Methods: The study groups consisted of 205 football fans aged 18-58 years (mean age = 30.11). The original version of the scale consists of seven items and two sub-dimensions. To test the construct validity of the scale, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted, and internal consistency coefficients for the reliability of the scale were calculated. Results: According to the EFA result, the scale consisted of two sub-dimensions. In addition, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis was tested. In the performed analyses, the chi 2/df, GFI, AGFI, CFI, IFI, SRMR and RMSEA goodness-of-fit indices were examined. The obtained values indicate that the fit indices are at a good fit level. Conclusions: The study reached significant findings indicating that the LHSSF adapted to the Turkish culture for Sports Fans can be used as a valid and reliable measurement tool in measuring love and hate levels among fans.