Measurement properties of the German version of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale for adults

The physical activity enjoyment scale (PACES) is a measurement instrument that is commonly used in monitoring and intervention research to assess how much people enjoy being physically active, as this has been related to physical activity adherence. However, while the measurement properties of PACES are well-researched in the English language, there is a gap of research in the German language, especially when looking at adults. Thus, the purpose of this work was to examine reliability, factorial validity, criterion-related validity, and measurement invariance across sex, age groups and time of the PACES for German-speaking adults. Data was obtained from the Motorik-Modul-Study (MoMo) in which 863 adults (53.5% female; mean age = 20.9 years) were examined. To investigate measurement invariance across age groups, data from 2,274 adolescents (50.5% female; mean age = 14.4 years) was obtained additionally. The study provided a nationwide representative sample for Germany. Results showed high internal consistency of PACES in adults (Cronbach's α = .94). Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the invariance of the measure across age groups, time, and sex. Criterion-related validity could be shown as the global factor significantly correlated with overall physical activity, physical activity in sports clubs, and leisure-time physical activity. The analyses of factorial structure indicated a method effect for positively and negatively worded items. Correlated uniqueness, latent method factor and a hybrid model were applied to analyze the method effect and results indicated that the method effect of positively worded items was predictive of physical activity independently of the global factor. Overall, it can be concluded that PACES is reliable, valid and invariant measure of physical activity enjoyment to be used in German-speaking adults. Further studies are warranted to examine the factorial structure of the PACES and the consequences of the method effect.