Development and psychometric testing of the Adolescent Healthy Lifestyle Questionnaire

BACKGROUND: Lifestyle choices and individuals’ behaviors have the potential to influence health and improve the quality of life. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to develop and psychometrically test an instrument for measuring healthy lifestyle in Iranian adolescents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comprehensive literature review related to health-promoting lifestyles was used to identify potential scale items. Data were collected from 797 school students. Construct validity was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to cross-validate. RESULTS: Nine factors emerged that explained 59.8% of the variance in the 43 items. Cronbach's α coefficient Healthy Lifestyle Questionnaire was r=0.82. After the model was modified, the fit indices indicated that the data were an adequate-to-good fit to the proposed models. CONCLUSIONS: The current study provides some support to the internal and external validity of the healthy lifestyles questionnaire for Iranian adolescents.