The validity of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) has been mostly studied in North America and Europe. We investigated the psychometric validation of the Arabic version of the PAQ-C in students in Saudi Arabia. The students (n = 327, age = 8-14 years) of six primary schools in the Majmaah region participated in the study. Participants completed the PAQ-C, and their demographics were recorded. The PAQ-C scores satisfied the following factor analysis assumptions: diagonal elements of the anti-image correlation matrix (>0.5), Bartlett's test of sphericity (p < 0.001), determinant (>0.00001), Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test of sampling adequacy (>0.8), and communality (all values > 0.2). Exploratory factor analysis results were inconclusive, with two measures favoring a 2-factor solution (Kaiser's criteria (Eigenvalue ≥ 1), and cumulative variance rule (>40%)); whereas, the scree test and the Monte Carlo parallel analysis favored a 1-factor structure. The confirmatory factor analysis favored a 1-factor solution: highest CFI, lowest RMSEA, non-significant χ2 statistics, and lowest χ2/df. The values of item-total correlation, corrected item-total correlation, and Cronbach's alpha if an item was deleted, ranged from 0.20-0.57, 0.42-0.64, and 0.70-0.75, respectively. The PAQ-C showed a Cronbach's alpha of 0.74. A 1-factor structure of the Arabic version of the PAQ-C had adequate psychometric validity in schoolchildren in Saudi Arabia.
Keywords: Adolescent; Exercise; Factor analysis; Middle East; Obesity; Reliability.
© 2022 Sirajudeen et al.