A measurement and conceptual investigation of exercise imagery establishing construct validity

We assessed the factor structure of a revised version of the Exercise Imagery Inventory (ELI; Giacobbi, Hausenblas, & Penfield, 2005), second-order interrelationships for cognitive and motivational forms of mental imagery, and associations with exercise behavior and barriers self-efficacy. A convenience sample of 358 (M age = 20.55 years, SD = 3.88) college students completed the EII-revised (EII-R), a measure of barriers self-efficacy and the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire. The EII-R demonstrated reliability and factorial validity with good model fit statistics. We observed second-order relationships among scale scores and discriminant validity evidence that distinguished cognitive (e.g., exercise technique, exercise routines) and motivational (e.g., appearance/health, exercise self-efficacy, exercise feelings) factors. The second-order imagery factors were significantly and moderately associated with barriers self-efficacy and exercise behavior.