Reliability and Validity of Common Subjective Instruments in Assessing Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour in Chinese College Students

Hui Gao, Xingxing Li, Yunhua Zi, Xuanwen Mu, Mingjian Fu, Tingting Mo and Kuai Yu
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Hui Gao: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Xingxing Li: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Yunhua Zi: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Xuanwen Mu: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Mingjian Fu: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Tingting Mo: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
Kuai Yu: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 14, 1-10

Abstract: The reliability and validity of common physical activity (PA) questionnaires are not well investigated in college students. This study aims to evaluate the reliability and validity of common subjective instruments in measuring PA and sedentary behaviour (SB) among college students. A total of 142 college students were included through convenience sampling. Each participant was asked to wear Actigraph wGT3X-BT accelerometers and fill physical activity logs (PAL) for 7 consecutive days. The Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ), the International Physical Activity Questionnaire long-form (IPAQ-LF), and short-form (IPAQ-SF) were interviewed by face-to-face at both day 0 and day 8. Reliability was evaluated by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), while the validity was evaluated by Spearman correlation coefficient and Bland–Altman statistics. The instruments showed moderate reliability in reporting total PA (ICC = 0.50–0.62) and SB (ICC = 0.47–0.52), while moderate validity in reporting moderate and vigorous PA (MVPA) ( r = 0.37–0.42), but fair to poor validity in reporting SB ( r = 0.09–0.28). Bland–Altman plots showed that all the instruments would underestimate MVPA and overestimate SB. Thus, in Chinese younger adults, the GPAQ, IPAQ-LF, IPAQ-SF, and PAL provide limited but acceptable reliability and validity in measuring MVPA and SB, among which GPAQ might be the most valid instrument.

Keywords: reliability; validity; accelerometer; physical activity; sedentary behaviour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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