Positive mental health among sports coaches: A six-month longitudinal study

Positive mental health is important for sports coaches to keep functioning well over time, but little is known about its longitudinal stability. Consequently, this study examined stability and change of emotional, psychological, and social well-being in a sample of 422 sports coaches (Mage = 44.48, SD = 11.03) in terms of measurement invariance, rank-order stability, mean-level change, stability of interindividual differences, and structural stability. Participants completed measures of emotional, psychological, and social well-being at baseline and again at three and six months. Multiple perspectives of stability and change were examined using structural equation modeling. The results confirm that the measure of positive mental health functions equivalently over time. Stability of well-being remained high, with rank-order stability coefficients ranging from .67 to .79 at three and six months, and no mean-level change in well-being was observed. The results also indicate stable interind...