Regular exercise plays a critical role in facilitating people's physical and mental health. Social support, as a psychosocial correlate of exercise behavior, is of great importance. The purpose of the current study is to develop and validate the Chinese version of the Social Support Scale for Exercise. Grounded in extant literature as well as a qualitative research, initial scale items were generated. Successively, reliability and validity of the scale were examined via factor analysis, reliability analysis and criterion validity analysis. The newly developed 24-item Social Support Scale for Exercise consists of four factors, named emotion support, information support, instrument support and companion support, respectively. Statistical analysis reveals the scale possesses satisfactory internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity and criterion validity. The newly developed Social Support Scale for Exercise conforms to the cultural background of China and can be used as a tool to measure the social support of exercise in China. |