Reliability and Validity of the Modifiable Activity Questionnaire for an Iranian Urban Adolescent Population

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability on the Persian translation of the Modifiable Activity Questionnaire (MAQ) in a sample of Tehranian adolescents. METHODS: Of a total of 52 subjects, a sub-sample of 40 participations (55.0% boys) was used to assess the reliability and the validity of the physical activity questionnaire. The reliability of the two MAQs was calculated by intraclass correlation coefficients, and validation was evaluated using Pearson correlation coefficients to compare data between mean of the two MAQs and mean of four physical activity records. RESULTS: Intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated to assess the reliability between two MAQs and the results of leisure time physical activity over the past year were 0.97. Pearson correlation coefficients between mean of two MAQs and mean of four physical activity records were 0.49 (P < 0.001), for leisure time physical activities. CONCLUSIONS: High reliability and relatively moderate validity were found for the Persian translation of the MAQ in a Tehranian adolescent population. Further studies with large sample size are suggested to assess the validity more precisely.