Do Fitter Children Better Assess Their Physical Activity with Questionnaire Than Less Fit Children?

Jerneja Premelč,Vedrana Sember,Gregor Jurak,Kaja Meh,Henri Vähä-Ypyä

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031304

Abstract

Most physical activity (PA) questionnaires assess moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) describing the physical exertion of individuals that might be influenced by their physical fitness. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine whether fitter children could better assess their PA with the questionnaire than less fit children. The cross-sectional validation study was conducted with 108 children (60 girls) aged 11 to 14 years, who were divided into three fitness groups based on the results of the 600 m running test. To answer the research question, the agreement between their assessment of PA using the SHAPES questionnaire and the UKK RM42 accelerometer data was analysed. One quarter of the participants achieved at least 60 min of MVPA each day, measured by accelerometer. The average MVPA obtained was 97.8 ± 35.6 min per day, with the high fitness group having a significantly higher value compared with the other groups. Moderate to high validity coefficients were found in the high fitness group (Spearman’s ρ range 0.34–0.70). In contrast, the lower fitness groups had poor to moderate validity for all variables (Spearman’s ρ range 0.03–0.42). These results suggest that the fittest children self-assess their PA with the questionnaire better than less fit children, which may advance new directions for the development and evaluation of PA questionnaires and their usability.

Highlights

Sufficient levels of physical activity (PA) are associated with various health benefits for children and adolescents in terms of physical, psychological, social, and cognitive health [1]
No statistically significant differences between boys and girls within groups were noted in fitness results (LF p = 0.937, intermediate fit (IF) p = 0.722, high fit (HF) p = 0.064)
Since there are some peculiarities associated with assessing VPA in selected algorithms, we focused our discussion of the validity of the SHAPES questionnaire on the moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) construct

Summary

Introduction

Sufficient levels of physical activity (PA) are associated with various health benefits for children and adolescents in terms of physical, psychological, social, and cognitive health [1]. Recent research shows that even low intensity PA (LPA) is associated with health benefits in adults and adolescents [2], higher PA intensities are associated with more health benefits [3,4]. Physical fitness is defined as the ability to perform daily tasks with vigour and alertness without excessive fatigue and to summon sufficient energy for leisure activities and unforeseen emergencies. It encompasses a wide range of physical abilities, such as cardiorespiratory fitness, strength, coordination, and flexibility. Various fitness test batteries are used for epidemiological assessment of physical fitness in children and adolescents, e.g., Eurofit [7], AAHPER Youth Fitness Project [8], The President’s Challenge [9], Fitnessgram [8,10], Japanese MEXT Fitness Test [11], The International Physical Fitness

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