Factor Analysis of the Retirement Decision Inventory for Iranian Elite Athletes

The aim of the study was to evaluate the factor analysis and internal consistency of a Persian version of the Athletes’ Retirement Decision Inventory (P-ARDI). Fernandez et al. (2006) developed this instrument based on the push, pull, antipush, and anti-pull point of view. We required 243 Iranian elite competitive athletes (mean age = 25.19 years; 81% male) to complete the questionnaire. The factor structure of the P-ARDI was evaluated by explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis. The internal consistency was determined by Cronbach’s alpha. According to the results, four-factor solution principal component analysis accounted for 65.02% of the variance of the final 36-item version of the P-ARDI. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the aforementioned factors was found to be greater than 0.7. In sum, the results suggest that the retirement decision process was found to be much more complex and multidimensional.