Validity of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adults: The New Member of the PAQ Family

It is important that we have valid tools for assessing physical activity at various ages, and this becomes particularly important with longitudinal research. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate and adult version of the Physical Activity Questionnaires for Older Children (PAQ-C) and Adolescents (PAQ-A) To examine the convergent validity of the adult version (PAQ-AD), we administered a series of activity measures to 184 adults (mean age 30.5 plus or minus 135 yrs). Participants completed the PAQ-AD, an activity rating (AR), the Healthy Physical Activity Questionnaire (HPAQ), and the Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (LTEQ) A subsample (n — 98) wore a physical activity measurement device, either a Caltrac (n = 57) or an MTI accelerometer (n = 41), for 7 days, which was followed by the 7-day physical activity recall interview (PAR) The PAQ-AD was significantly (p < 0.05) related to the AR (r = 37), NPAQ (r = 56), LTEQ (r = 63), PAR (r = 0.24), Caltrac (r = 29), and MTI (r = 43) These results suggest that the PAQ-AD can be added to the PAQ family of questionnaires as a valid instrument for measuring adult physical activity.