Reliability of self-report measures of correlates of obesity-related behaviours in Hong Kong adolescents for the iHealt(H) and IPEN adolescent studies

BACKGROUND: This study examined the reliability of measures of correlates of dietary behaviours (DBs), physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) for Hong Kong adolescents. METHOD: Individual, social and environmental correlates of obesity-related behaviours were assessed twice, 15–27 days apart (average 20 days), via self-administered questionnaires. These questionnaire included measures of decisional balance, self-efficacy, enjoyment and social support related to intake of fruits, vegetables, high-fat foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, PA behaviour and SB. They also included measures of perceived barriers to PA, parental rules related to PA and SB, and environmental correlates of DB, PA and SB. The questionnaires were self-completed outside school hours. A sample of 119 12–17 year old Chinese-speaking secondary school students (60 girls; 59 boys) were recruited from four Hong Kong schools located in areas stratified by walkability and socio-economic status. RESULTS: The test-retest reliability of the examined measures ranged from poor to excellent (ICC: 0.30–0.99). All measures of correlates of PA and SB had excellent or substantial test-retest reliability, with the exception of self-efficacy for reducing SB (ICC: 0.59). Four of 18 measures of DBs showed moderate, and two poor (ICC < 0.41), test-retest reliability. Evidence of unidimensionality (Cronbach’s α ≥ 0.70) was found for 10 of 28 multi-item scales. The evidence for the remaining 18 was either questionable or poor. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the self-report measures of correlates of obesity-related behaviours used in the iHealt(H) study have acceptable test-retest reliability in Hong Kong adolescents. The factorial structure of several scales needs to be investigated in a larger sample. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13690-017-0209-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.