Psychometric properties of the physical activity questionnaire for older children in Italy: Testing the validity among a general and clinical pediatric population

Gobbi, E.; Elliot, Catherine; Varnier, M.; Carraro, A.

Research Archive Home
→
Faculty of Environment, Society and Design
→
Department of Tourism, Sport and Society
→
View Item

Psychometric properties of the physical activity questionnaire for older children in Italy: Testing the validity among a general and clinical pediatric population

Gobbi, E. ; Elliot, Catherine ; Varnier, M. ; Carraro, A.

Type: Journal Article

Permalink: https://hdl.handle.net/10182/7250

Originally published: 2016-05-26 by Public Library of Science (PLoS) and available at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156354

Rights: © 2016 Gobbi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Keywords: psychometric properties; physical activity; children; Italy; PAQ-C-It; PAQ-C; validity; General Science & Technology; Child; Exercise; Female; Heart Defects, Congenital; Humans; Male; Perception; Psychometrics; Surveys and Questionnaires

Fields of Research: 170114 Sport and Exercise Psychology; 160305 Population Trends and Policies; MD Multidisciplinary

Abstract:

The purpose of this research was to assess an Italian version of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C-It). Three separate studies were conducted, whereby testing general psychometric properties, construct validity, concurrent validity and the factor structure of the PAQ-C-It among general and clinical pediatric population. Study 1 (n = 1170) examined the psychometric properties, internal consistency, factor structure (exploratory factor analysis, EFA) and construct validity with enjoyment perception during physical activity. Study 2 (n = 59) reported on reliability, construct validity with enjoyment and BMI, and on cross-sectional concurrent validity with objectively measured MVPA (tri-axial accelerometry) over the span of seven consecutive days. Study 3 (n = 58) examined the PAQ-C-It reliability, construct validity with BMI and VO2max as the objective measurement among a population of children with congenital heart defects (CHD). In study 2 and 3, the factor structure of the PAQ-C-It was then re-examined with an EFA. The PAQ-C-It showed acceptable to good reliability (alpha .70 to .83). Results on construct validity showed moderate but significant association with enjoyment perception (r = .30 and .36), with BMI (r = -.30 and -.79 for CHD simple form), and with the VO2max (r = .55 for CHD simple form). Significant concurrent validity with the objectively measured MVPA was reported (rho = .30, p < .05). Findings of the EFA suggested a two-factor structure for the PAQ-C-It, with items 2, 3, and 4 contributing little to the total score. This study supports the PAQ-C-It as an appropriate instrument to assess the MVPA levels of Italian children, including children with simple forms of CHD. Support is given to the possible instrument effectiveness on a large international perspective in order to level out data gathering across the globe.

Show full item record