Reliability and Validity of the Commitment to Physical Activity Scale for Adolescents

• Published in: American journal of health promotion Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 343 - 352
• Main Authors: Robbins, Lorraine B., Ling, Jiying, Wesolek, Stacey M., Kazanis, Anamaria S., Bourne, Kelly A., Resnicow, Ken
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2017; American Journal of Health Promotion
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age Factors; Child; Commitment; Community centers; Confirmatory factor analysis; Exercise; Exercise - psychology; Exploratory factor analysis; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Girls; Health promotion; Health Promotion - methods; Humans; Male; Middle schools; Perception; Physical activity; Prospective Studies; Psychometrics; Quantitative psychology; Reproducibility of Results; Review boards; Self Efficacy; Skill development; Socioeconomic Factors; Teenagers; Test-Retest reliability; Urban areas; Research purpose: instrument development; Target population age: youth; Female, Exercise, Adolescent, Motivation, Factor analysis, Measures, Prevention Research. Manuscript format: research; Setting: local community and schools; Health focus: fitness/physical activity; Target population circumstances: education/income level, geographic location, race-ethnicity; Outcome measure: cognitive and behavioral; Strategy: skill development/behavior change; Study design: nonexperimental
• ISSN: 0890-1171; 2168-6602
• DOI: 10.4278/ajhp.150114-QUAN-665

Purpose. To examine psychometric properties of a Commitment to Physical Activity Scale for Adolescents (CPASA). Design. Two test-retest studies and a prospective study, approved by a university institutional review board, were conducted in midwestern U.S. urban areas. Setting. The first test-retest study occurred in four community centers, the second test-retest study took place in a community school, and the prospective study occurred in eight middle schools. Subjects. To measure commitment at baseline and 1 week later, 51 girls in the first test-retest study completed an original 26-item scale, and 91 in the second test-retest study completed a revised 11-item scale. In the prospective study, 503 girls completed the 11-item scale. Measures. Commitment was measured via the CPASA. After completing the CPASA, girls in the prospective study wore ActiGraph GT3X-plus accelerometers that measured light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity (LMVPA) and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Analysis. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were estimated. Both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to cross-validate the factor structure. Results. For the 11-item CPASA, Cronbach α ranged from .81 to .82, and test-retest reliability was .88. Both EFA and CFA indicated a single factor. The scale was significantly correlated with LMVPA (r = .10) and MVPA (r = .11). Conclusion. The 11-item CPASA demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity with girls.