Validation of the Physical Activity Questions in the World Health Organization Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Survey Using Accelerometer Data in Japanese Children and Adolescents
in Journal of Physical Activity and HealthBy purchasing this content you agree and accept the terms and conditions
Background: An international physical activity (PA) questionnaire is beneficial to make cross-country comparisons among children and adolescents. This study assesses the validity of the PA questions in the World Health Organization Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (WHO HBSC) survey in Japanese children and adolescents. Methods: Participants were fifth- to sixth-grade Japanese primary school students (67 students aged 10.8 [0.5] y) and first- to third-grade junior high school students (108 students aged 13.0 [0.7] y). The Japanese version of the PA questions in the WHO HBSC (WHO HBSC-J) was used. To assess the validity of the PA questions, the authors used a partial correlation adjusted for sex, age, and relative weight between the answers to the survey questions and objectively measured moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) by an accelerometer. Results: A significant positive correlation was found between accelerometer-measured MVPA and the number of reported days with at least 60 minutes/day of MVPA in primary school students (r = .39, P = .002) and junior high school students (r = .32, P < .001). Conclusion: The HBSC-J has moderate validity for evaluating MVPA in Japanese primary school and junior high school students.
C. Tanaka is with the College of Health and Welfare, J. F. Oberlin University, Tokyo, Japan. Kyan is with the Department of Child Education, Okinawa Women’s Junior College, Okinawa, Japan. Takakura is with the Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan. Olds and Schranz are with the Alliance for Research in Exercise Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia. S. Tanaka is with the Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, National Institute of Health and Nutrition, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Tokyo, Japan.
© 2022 Human Kinetics