The newly organized Youth Olympic Games encourage the intensification of youth sports programs so that talented athletes are competitively prepared and achieve good results. Therefore, young athletes must systematically train and improve their skills, specialize in one sport, become more committed to training and participate in competitions (Aquilina, 2013). The increasing volume of training and early specialization can and can cause athletes to drop out. Therefore, aspects of athletes’ social support, motivation, and satisfaction are very important in areas of high excellence.

Self-determination theory emphasizes the satisfaction of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relationships) as key factors in achieving well-being, encompassing universally necessary elements of human developmental integrity. Autonomy is characterized by a person’s ability to feel in control of their actions and decisions. Competence means a person’s need to feel effective enough to achieve the desired results, to observe and to feel an improvement in their abilities. The need for relationships is based on the innate ability of individuals to perceive themselves as truly related to the social environment (Deci and Ryan, 2012).

Study results show that athletes, who consider themselves capable of managing their actions in a sports context feel physically and psychologically competent to perform their functions and feel accepted in their teams, in addition to being more inclined to feel fundamentally motivated, experiencing greater job satisfaction (Contreira  et al.,  2019 ).

Satisfaction is defined as the degree of fun or boredom experienced by people in a certain activity (Castillo et al., 2002. Duda and Nichols, 1992). Athletes’ satisfaction as an important outcome of many psychological variables is defined as a positive emotional state resulting from a complex assessment of the structures, processes, and outcomes associated with the sport experience (Chelladurai and Riemer, 1997). Lack of satisfaction with physical activity or sports can raise concerns about athletes’ performance or level of mastery, which can lead to amotivation. 

According to Papaioannou et al. (2008), athletes’ satisfaction is largely determined by the achievement of goals and the support of social agents such as the coach, parents, and teammates. The motivational environment is a catalyst for the motivation of athletes and the involvement and satisfaction of the athlete in the sport experience (Bekiari and Syrmpas, 2015), however, the behaviour of coaching or sports leaders is called crucial for athlete satisfaction (Kao and Tsai, 2016) in providing social support and constructive feedback (Cranmer and Sollitto, 2015).

Considering that the research station on motivation and satisfaction in physical education and sports is relatively new in Lithuania, the aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Sport Satisfaction Instrument (SSI) in a sample of Lithuanian athletes in order to determine whether it is a valid ant reliable tool used in the context of achievement in sport among young people.

Research methods. The research questionnaire consisted of three structural parts: a guide for study participants, socio-demographic variables and variables of Sport Satisfaction Instrument (SSI) (Duda and Nicholls, 1992; Balaguer et al., 1997; Castillo et al., 2002). Socio-demographic variables included information on age, gender, training experience, and personal achievement of students in sport. The original SSI version contains eight statements that are divided into two subscales. The process of linguistic adaptation and validation of SSI involved several stages. In the first stage, the English version of the scale was translated into Lithuanian. In the second stage, the initial version of the scale was revised by a language specialist, who submitted suggestions for improving the scale. In the third stage, a cognitive interview was conducted. In the fourth stage, the scale back-translation technique into English was applied by an independent translator. Participants. The study involved students of Lithuanian specialized sports schools (sports gymnasiums), which are financed from the state budget. The survey involved sports gymnasiums students, who represented 28 sports (basketball, football, hockey, rugby, volleyball, water polo, athletics, boxing, cycling, judo, fencing, figure skating, gymnastics, kayaking, modern pentathlon, rowing, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, skating, weightlifting, wrestling). The study involved 473 participants (296 boys, 177 girls). The mean age of participants was 15.8 years (SD = 1.43), sports experience averages 6.54±2.95 years. The youngest participants were 13 years old and the oldest 18 years old. Athletes had an average of 12-18 hours per week training session. 65.8 percent of the participants were winners of Lithuanian National Championships and members of the National Youth and Junior teams. Compliance with ethical standards. Study participants were informed about the purpose of the survey and they were able to decide whether they wanted to participate in the study. Respondents were also informed that participation in the study is based on the principles of anonymity and confidentiality, participation in the study is voluntary, and the results obtained will be analysed only in summary form. All procedures performed during the study were performed in accordance with the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity requirements (2017). Statistical data analysis. During the statistical analysis, the internal compatibility test of the Lithuanian version of the SSI, the exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and the evaluation of the data from the aspect of athletes' gender were evaluated.

The Jamovi software package was used for element analysis, homogeneity and correlation between subscales (Pearson coefficient), internal consistency of each subscale (Cronbach’s alpha) and factor analysis. IBQ internal consistency analysis confirmed the acceptable consistency of the scale statements with respect to the measured phenomenon (α - 0.78). The difference in variance of the responses to the individual statements was estimated by the Spearman-Brown coefficient of increased confidence. Analysing the correlations between the answers to the individual ISS questions and the sum of the values of the scale, it was found that the correlation of the individual items reaches 0.320 - 0.576. The suitability of the data for factor analysis was determined by evaluating the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (0.813) measure and performing the Bartlett sphericity test (p=0.00, <0.05). The 'Maximum likelihood' extraction method was used in combination with a 'Varimax' rotation to determine the common factors. A 2-factor model corresponding to the original scale version was singled out. EFA showed that the isolated model explains 64.6 perc. dispersion. The factor weight matrix shows that the extracted factors and variables are significantly related (>0.64). CFA confirmed the two-factor model of ISS with suitability parameters and values as follows: CFI=.96, TLI=.95, and RMSEA=.08. Research on athletes' satisfaction with physical activity is important in educational practice, as physical education and sports activities are the context in which learning and the formation of youth values take place. In addition, the inclusion of physical activity makes sense in shaping social emotional abilities. Assessing satisfaction with sports activities can be an effective tool for getting feedback on training. SSI is an important tool in the development of research in the field of physical education and can be useful for practicing coaches and instructors as it increases the understanding of athletes’ attitudes and satisfaction with physical activity and sports training.

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