Physical activity questionnaire for older children (PAQ-C): Arabic translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and psychometric validation in school-aged children in Saudi Arabia
Mohamed Sherif Sirajudeen, Mohamed Waly, Md Dilshad Manzar, Mazen Alqahtani, Msaad Alzhrani, Ahmad Alanazi, Radhakrishnan Unnikrishnan, Hariraja Muthusamy, Rashmi Saibannavar, Wafa Alrubaia
Abstract
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 χ 2 statistics, and lowest χ 2 /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.