Reliability And Validity Of The Self-report Exercise Habits Index In Chinese College Students

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine adaptation of the “Self-Report Exercise Habits Index (SREHI)” in Chinese college students, and to evaluate reliability and validity of SREHI. METHODS: After being translated into the Mandarin version, 246 college students took part in the survey online. Five-Likert scale was conducted (1 = completely inconsistent; 5 = completely consistent) in SREHI. Criterion question was a direct question about exercise habits. T-test between top 27% and bottom 27% of total score was used for Item Analysis. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Pearson Correlation between SREHI and the criterion question were conducted to evaluate construct validity and criterion validity of SREHI. The reliability was measured by Cronbach’s alpha (α) coefficients. Data was analyzed by SPSS and AMOS. RESULTS: Differences of Items Analysis were all significant (p < 0.001). Two principal components, automaticity and repetition, were extracted and the cumulative contribution rate (Initial Eigenvalues) was 78.77% (KMO = 0.95, p < 0.001). The Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) showed that χ2 = 21.250, DF = 13, RMSEA = 0.072, CFI = 0.985, GFI = 0.956. The factor load of each item to each dimension was all greater than 0.6 (p < 0.001). Average Variance Extracted value (AVE) of automaticity and repetition were 0.684 and 0.724 respectively and Construct Reliability (CR) of automaticity and repetition were 0.896 and 0.887 respectively. The square roots of AVE in both dimensions were greater than the correlation coefficient between repetition and automaticity (r = 0.645, p < 0.001). Criterion validity was significant (r = 0.528, p < 0.01). The Cronbach’s α coefficients of automaticity, repetition and the whole scale were 0.894, 0.915 and 0.914. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggested the “Self-Reports Exercise Habit Index (SRHI)”, including two dimensions and seven items, was suited for Chinese college students with great reliability and validity.