Validation of a Maternal Questionnaire on Correlates of Physical Activity in Preschool Children

Aug 30, 2026

Background: Valid measures of physical activity correlates in preschool children are lacking. This study assessed the validity, factor structure, and internal consistency of a maternal questionnaire evaluating potential correlates of 4-year-olds’ physical activity. Methods: Two studies were conducted. Study I (n=24 mothers) compared questionnaire responses with telephone interview responses using Cohen’s kappa and percentage agreement. Study II (n=398) used principal components analysis to identify factor structure and Cronbach’s alpha to test internal consistency. Results: Kappa indicated mostly slight-to-fair agreement, while percentage agreement suggested fair agreement for most items. Conclusion: Overall, the questionnaire showed reasonable validity and internal consistency and may support future intervention research.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Methods

Study I

Study II

Results

Conclusion

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity BioMed Central Research Open Access Validation of a maternal questionnaire on correlates of physical activity in preschool children Alison M McMinn 1, Esther MF van Sluijs 1, Nicholas C Harvey2, Cyrus Cooper2, Hazel M Inskip2, Keith M Godfrey2 and Simon J Griffin* 1 Address: 1MRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK and 2MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, SO16 6YD, UK [Email: Alison M McMinn-alison.mcminn@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk](Email: Alison M McMinn-alison.mcminn@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk); [Esther MF van Sluijs-esther.vansluijs@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk](Esther MF van Sluijs-esther.vansluijs@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk); [Nicholas C Harvey-nch@mrc.soton.ac.uk](Nicholas C Harvey-nch@mrc.soton.ac.uk); [Cyrus Cooper-cc@mrc.soton.ac.uk](Cyrus Cooper-cc@mrc.soton.ac.uk); [Hazel M Inskip-hmi@mrc.soton.ac.uk](Hazel M Inskip-hmi@mrc.soton.ac.uk); [Keith M Godfrey-kmg@mrc.soton.ac.uk](Keith M Godfrey-kmg@mrc.soton.ac.uk); Simon J Griffin* -[simon.griffin@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk](simon.griffin@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk) * Corresponding author Published: 2 December 2009 International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2009, 6:81 This article is available from: [http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/6/1/81](http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/6/1/81) doi:10.1186/1479-5868-6-81 Received: 9 February 2009 Accepted: 2 December 2009 © 2009 McMinn et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background: Valid measures of physical activity correlates in preschool children are lacking. This study aimed to assess the validity, factor structure and internal consistency of a maternal questionnaire on potential correlates of four-year-old children's physical activity. Methods: The questionnaire was designed to measure the following constructs: child personal factors; parental support and self-efficacy for providing support; parental rules and restrictions; maternal attitudesand perceptions; maternal behaviour; barriers to physical activity; and the home and local environments. Two separate studies were conducted. Study I included 24 mothers of four-year-old children who completed the questionnaire then participated in a telephone interview covering similar items to the questionnaire. To assess validity, the agreement between interview and questionnaire responses was assessed using Cohen's kappa and percentage agreement. Study II involved 398 mothers of four-year-old children participating in the Southampton Women's Survey. In this study, principal components analysis was used to explore the factor structure of the questionnaire to aid future analyses with these data. The internal consistency of the factors identified was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Results: Kappa scores showed 30% of items to have moderate agreement or above, 23% to have fair agreement and 47% to have slight or poor agreement. However, 89% of items had fair agreement as assessed by percentage agreement (≥ 66%). Limited variation in responses to variables is likely to have contributed to some of the low kappa values. Six questions had a low kappa and low percentage agreement (defined as poor validity); these included questions from the child personal factors, maternal self-efficacy, rules and restrictions, and local environment domains. The principal components analysis identified eleven factors and found several variables to stand alone. Eight of the composite factors identified had acceptable internal consistency (α ≥ 0.60) and three fell just short of achieving this (0.60 >

FAQs

What is the purpose of the maternal questionnaire validation study?

To evaluate the questionnaire’s validity, factor structure, and internal consistency for assessing potential correlates of physical activity in 4-year-old preschool children.

How did the researchers assess validity in Study I?

They compared mothers’ questionnaire answers with telephone interview responses using Cohen’s kappa and percentage agreement.

What statistical methods were used to explore factor structure and internal consistency?

Principal components analysis was used to identify the factor structure, and Cronbach’s alpha assessed internal consistency of the identified factors.

Aug 30, 2026

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