Measu
rement in spo
rt psychology is a ma
jo
r issue and attempts to p
rog
ress measu
rement should be valued and encou
raged. Const
ruct validation is an ongoing p
rocess [
ref="#bib16">Marsh, H. W., & Jackson, S. A. (1999). Flow expe
rience in spo
rt: Const
ruct validation of multidimensional hie
ra
rchical state and t
rait
responses.
Structural Equation Modeling,
6, 343–371] and the publication of the SMS-6 [Mallett, C. J., Kawabata, M.,
Newcombe, P., Ote
ro-Fe
re
ro, A., & Jackson, S. A. (2007). Spo
rts Motivation Scale-6 (SMS-6): A
revised six-facto
r Spo
rt Motivation Scale.
Psychology of Sport and Exercise,
8, 600–614] was an attempt to p
rog
ress measu
rement in contextual spo
rt motivation using self-dete
rmination theo
ry (SDT) [Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985).
Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour. New Yo
rk: Plenum P
ress]. Mallett et al. a
rgued fo
r the need to
re-develop the Spo
rt Motivation Scale (SMS) [Pelletie
r, L. G., Fo
rtie
r, M. S., Valle
rand, R. J., Tuson, K. M., B
riè
re, N. M., & Blais, M. R. (1995). Towa
rd a new measu
re of int
rinsic motivation, ext
rinsic motivation, and amotivation in spo
rts: The Spo
rt Motivation Scale (SMS).
Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 17, 35–53], p
rima
rily because the SMS did not measu
re integ
rated
regulation, and secondly due to consistently
repo
rted p
roblems with the lack of conve
rgent and disc
riminant validity. Pelletie
r, Valle
rand, and Sa
rrazin's [Pelletie
r, L. G., Valle
rand, R. J., & Sa
rrazin, P. (2007b). Something old, something new, and something bo
rrowed.
Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 8, 615–621] commenta
ry on the SMS-6, focused on two legitimate questions: “Does the SMS need to be
revised?”, and “Is the
revised 6-facto
r SMS a bette
r scale?” In add
ressing the fi
rst question, this a
rticle p
rovides st
rong evidence that suppo
rts the a
rguments that the SMS does need
revision. In add
ressing the second question, we p
rovided sound a
rguments fo
r the development of the SMS-6. Howeve
r, we concluded that the supe
rio
rity of the SMS-6 in measu
ring contextual spo
rt motivation ac
ross dive
rse age and cultu
ral g
roups is a question fo
r futu
re and continuing
resea
rch. Fu
rthe
r examination of the SMS-6 is necessa
ry befo
re such claims can be endo
rsed.