Construct validity and reliability of the physical activity parenting questionnaire for children (PAP-C)

BACKGROUND: Children’s perception of parenting is hypothesised to significantly affect their physical activity (PA). This study aimed to examine construct validity, factorial invariance and reliability of a new tool: Physical Activity Parenting questionnaire for Children (PAP-C). METHODS: PAP-C comprised 22 items hypothesised to cover 3 theory-guided factors of physical activity parenting (PAP)—namely, structure for activity, autonomy support and involvement. Construct validity and internal consistency of PAP-C were tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and composite reliability in a sample of Finnish first, second- and third graders (n = 456; mean age 8.77 ± 0.84 years, girls 51.1%). Factorial invariance of PAP-C across grade levels was investigated using sequential multigroup CFA. Intra-class correlation (ICC) coefficients of the sum factors were calculated in a sample of children who completed a 4-week PAP-C retest (n = 450; mean age 8.83 ± 0.87 years, girls 48.0%). RESULTS: A first-order 3-factor model of the structure for activity, autonomy support and involvement, with 20 items (two items removed), showed an acceptable fit. The model demonstrated configural, metric, and scalar invariance across grade levels. Composite reliabilities indicated moderate-to-good internal consistency (from .74 to .87) for the factors. ICCs (from .494 to .750, p < .001) showed moderate to excellent test–retest stability for all grade levels. CONCLUSIONS: PAP-C can be considered to be a promising tool for investigating 7–10-year-old children’s perceptions of PAP. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12966-021-01128-5.