A Measure of Yoga Self restraint Scale using Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The first limb of astanga yoga is yama (self restraint). Its aphorisms were refined and reframed in the form of psychological self restraint health and wellness scale. The objective of the paper is to test the hypothesis; “Management of health and wellbeing through self restraint yoga measures”. Samples of 1,153 students aged 11-18 years were selected from 20 secondary schools in Bhopal region, India. We used SPSS and AMOS version 25 exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to test the validity and reliability of yoga self-restraint scale (YSRS). The final YSRS scale comprises 27 items which has five sub-domains (non violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy and non possessiveness) with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.74, variance 58.46%. YSRS results were found to be significant at p<0.001. Goodness of Fit indices calculated from the scores is within the accepted range confirming the validity of the model. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a one-dimensional factor structure of the YSRS. Yoga self restraint scale with 27 items is valid and reliable measure for wellbeing of oneself and society. There is a scope for further research work in the other main domains of yoga concept.