Psychological correlates of self-reported and objectively measured physical activity among chinese children—psychological correlates of PA

Jing-Jing Wang, Tom Baranowski, Patrick W. C. Lau*, Tzu=An Chen, Shu-Ge Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the associations among psychological correlates and physical activity (PA) in Chinese children and to further examine whether these associations varied by different PA measures. PA self-efficacy, motivation, and preference were reported in 449 8–13-year-old Chinese children (252 males). Moderate-to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) was measured by the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) and with an ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer. Correlations and hierarchical regressions were performed to explore their associations. The study psychological variables were all positively related to PAQ-C and objective MVPA (r: 0.22–0.63). The associations with PAQ-C were all substantially stronger than those with accelerometry. Beyond the explained variance accounted for by demographics and social desirability, the addition of the psychological correlates accounted for 45% of the variance of the PAQ-C score, while only 13% for accelerometry-based MVPA. The associations of specific variables with the PAQ-C score (age, PA self-efficacy, autonomous motivation and preference) were somewhat different from those associated with objective MVPA (PA self-efficacy, autonomous motivation, and negatively associated with female gender). This study demonstrated the importance of self-efficacy and autonomous motivation in association with PA and indicated the difference in level of their associations with different PA measures.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1006
Number of pages12
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume13
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Oct 2016

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

User-Defined Keywords

  • Accelerometry
  • Physical activity
  • Psychological correlates
  • Self-report

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