Construction and Development of Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents

Abstract

Physical activity (PA) is an important health behavior. Among children and adolescents, PA has a significant impact on cardiovascular, bone, and metabolic health, improving fitness, weight status, and sleep. Besides physical health benefits, there is increasing evidence on the cognitive, psychological, and social benefits of PA. Despite all the health benefits of PA, most adolescents worldwide are physically inactive. The purpose of the present study was to construct and develop an instrument by which the last seven days physical activity of adolescents could be measured. The researchers have developed a Likert style questionnaire which is comprising four domains i) Physical Activity at Work (PAW), ii) Physical Activity at Transport from and to places (PAT), iii) Physical Activity at Leisure Time including Active Recreational (PALTAR), and iv) Sedentary Behavior (SB). There were 98 items constructed in four domains. The population of the study was government and private higher secondary school students from the Jammu division of union territory of Jammu & Kashmir. The sample had been drawn from thirty one (31) government and private higher secondary schools of Jammu division. To collect the data from the participants, researchers had visited in the field (Pir-Panjal region, District Jammu and Reasi) to conducted the survey. The age group of the participants was 12-18 years abled male and female voluntarily took part in the research survey. The total participants were eight hundred (800) in which four hundred (400) male and four hundred (400) were female participants. The researchers had entered the data in the Excel sheet and applied factor analysis through Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 to reduce the developed questionnaire’s items from 98 to 65 with four domains.