title: Measuring general levels of physical activity: preliminary evidence for the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children.
abstract: This article reports three studies that investigated psychometric properties of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C). The PAQ-C is a guided self-administered 7-day recall measure designed to assess general physical activity levels during the school year for children in grades four and higher. Study one, with 215 students ranging in age from 9 to 15 yr, found the PAQ-C had acceptable item and test score characteristics such as item distribution, corrected item-total correlations, and internal consistency. Study two, involving 84 students ranging from 9 to 14 yr, indicated acceptable levels of test-retest reliability for both males (r = 0.75) and females (r = 0.82) after 1 wk. The third study used Generalizability theory to investigate the reliability for using the average of either two or three PAQ-C scores collected during fall, winter, and spring seasons. Based on the responses of 200 students ranging from 8 to 16 yr, generalizability coefficients exceeded 0.80 for either the average of two or three responses for both younger (<13 yr) and older subjects. In all three studies, the PAQ-C demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and males were significantly more active than females. These results provide preliminary support for the PAQ-C as a cost efficient method of assessing general levels of children's physical activity during the school year.
authors.affiliation: College of Physical Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Crocker
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Faulkner
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Kowalski
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McGrath
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D011594:Psychometrics; D012621:Seasons; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires