Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the achievement emotions questionnaire for physical education in university students

BACKGROUND: Achievement emotions have a significant impact on both the learning process and outcomes. However, there is currently no brief and effective questionnaire available to evaluate Chinese university students' achievement emotions in physical education courses. This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Achievement Emotions for Physical Education Questionnaire (AEQ-PE) in a sample of Chinese university students, while also investigating its measurement invariance across gender and grade levels. METHODS: A cluster randomization sampling method was used to select 694 first- and second-year university students in Shanghai, China for the survey. Descriptive statistics, item analysis, reliability testing, and measurement invariance testing were conducted on the full sample (n = 694). Subsequently, the full sample was randomly divided into two groups, with Sample 1 (n = 347) undergoing exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and Sample 2 (n = 347) undergoing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the structural validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the Chinese version of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Physical Education (AEQ-PE-C). Finally, Sample 3 (n = 45), which was retested one month later, was used to evaluate test–retest reliability. RESULTS: The Chinese version of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Physical Education consists of 6 dimensions and 24 items, with good item discrimination. The EFA supported a 6-factor structure model, while the CFA demonstrated good model fit indices (χ2/df = 3.086, CFI = 0.928, TLI = 0.916, RMSEA = 0.078) and good convergent and discriminant validity. The questionnaire exhibits high internal consistency reliability (0.794) and excellent test–retest reliability (0.792). Furthermore, the multi-group analysis confirms that the AEQ-PE-C questionnaire has measurement invariance across gender and grade levels. CONCLUSION: The Chinese version of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Physical Education has good reliability and validity, as well as measurement invariance across gender and grade levels, making it an effective tool for measuring achievement emotions in physical education among Chinese university students. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-023-16759-5.