Measuring enjoyment of physical activity in adolescent girls

Background: Methods: Results: Conclusions: Enjoyment has been implicated as a determinant of physical activity among youth, but advances in understand ing its importance have been limited by the use of measures that were not a dequately validated. The present study examined: (1) the factorial validity of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES), and (2) the construct va lidity of PACES scores, Methods: Adolescent girls (N=1797), who were randomly assigned to calibrati on (n=899) and cross-validation (n=898) samples, completed the PACES and me asures of factors influencing enjoyment of physical education, physical act ivity, and sport involvement. The factorial validity of the PACES and the m easure of factors influencing enjoyment physical education was tested using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The hypothesized relationshi ps among the measures were tested using structure al equation modeling. Results: Unidimensional models fit the PACES and the measure of factors inf luencing enjoyment of physical education in the calibration and cross-valid ation samples. The hypothesized relationships between the PACES and the mea sures of factors influencing enjoyment of physical education, physical acti vity, and sport involvement were supported in the entire sample, were simil ar in African-American and Caucasian girls, and were indepenent of physical fitness. Conclusions: Evidence of factorial validity and convergent evidence for con struct validity indicate that the PACES is a valid measure of physical acti vity enjoyment among adolescent girls, suitable for use as a mediator varia ble in interventions designed to increase physical activity.