Laura García-Cervantes, David Martínez Gómez, Gabriel Rodríguez Romo , Verónica Cabanas Sánchez, Ascensión Marcos Sánchez, Oscar L. Veiga
Introduction: Previous studies suggest that the physical environment is associated with youth physical activity levels.
Objective: The present study aimed at assessing the reliability and validity of an adapted version of the ALPHA environmental questionnaire (short version) to adults for application with Spanish youth.
Methods: The reliability was evaluated in a sample (n = 190, 80 girls, 14.08 ± 1.38 years) using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and Weighted kappa. In other sample (n = 140, 61 girls, 13.03 ± 1.40 years) the validity was assessed using the Spearman correlation (rho) for its association with self-reported and objective (accelerometers) physical activity (PA).
Results: The test-retest reliability showed ICC = 0.69 for the total questionnaire score, ranging from k = 0.42 to 0.77 for individual items. The total score showed significant correlations with PA reported by PACE questionnaire (rho = 0.18, p = 0.040), the Finnish Physical Activity Index (rho = 0.26, p = 0.002) and active commuting for girls (rho = 0.34, p = 0.010), as well as vigorous PA measured by accelerometry (rho = 0.18, p = 0.038).
Discussion: The adapted version of the ALPHA environmental questionnaire has moderate to good reliability and acceptable validity to assess environmental factors that may influence PA in youth.