Predictive utility and cut point of the Physical Activity Questionnaire-Children for differentiating youth meeting...

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is associated with a host of health benefits. As researchers continue to develop an understanding of what keeps young people from meeting physical activity recommendations, there is a need to develop efficient and cost-effective measures that can accurately distinguish youth who meet guidelines from those who do not. Therefore, the current study aims to evaluate the utility of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C) in predicting accelerometer-derived estimates of MVPA.

The final sample included 184 youth between the ages of 8 and 12 years, who completed self-report measures and wore an accelerometer for two weeks. Binary logistic regression was performed to evaluate the relationship between PAQ-C composite score and MVPA recommendation status. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to identify an optimal cut value for the PAQ-C.

Age and gender demonstrated small, but significant associations with meeting MVPA recommendation status. Specifically, females and older participants were less likely to meet MVPA recommendations. PAQ-C was also identified as a significant predictor of youth meeting MVPA recommendation status. The area under the curve was found to be .76. A cut value of 3.34 was found to optimize both specificity (.70) and sensitivity (.76). Participants at or above this value can be classified as having met MVPA recommendations.

The PAQ-C was found to be a useful measure for predicting youth meeting MVPA recommendations. Researchers can use these findings to determine if participants are meeting MVPA recommendations of 60 or more minutes of MVPA per day by evaluating if participants meet or exceed the identified PAQ-C cut point. Future studies should continue to establish the predicative utility of the PAQ-C for youth experiencing chronic health conditions, such as obesity.