Publication Details
Rose, E.,
Larkin, D.,
Hands, B. P.,
Howard, B.,
&
Parker, H.
(2009).
Evidence for the validity of the Children’s Attraction to Physical Activity Questionnaire (CAPA) with young children.
Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 12 (5), 573-578.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2009.05.009
Abstract
Attraction to physical activity is important to an individual’s intrinsic motivation to engage in play, games and sports. While there are instruments designed to measure attraction to physical activity in middle childhood years, the lack of authentic measures in young children has impeded research in this area.
In this study we sought to address the validity of a scale to tap young children’s attraction to physical activity. Evidence for validity was based on internal consistency, content analysis, and factor structure.
Australian school children (180 boys and 154 girls) from school year two, aged six to eight years, were individually administered a modified version of the Children’s Attraction to Physical Activity Scale (CAPA; [1, 2]).
The results indicated that internal consistency was acceptable for most of the subscales when negative statements were excluded from the analyses. Factor analysis revealed that the liking of games and sports, liking of physical exertion and exercise, and the importance of exercise subscales were more robust. Second order factor analysis indicated that the overall construct of attraction to physical activity was viable in this age group.
With some modifications, the scale appears to provide an acceptable approach to the measurement of attraction to physical activity in young children.
Keywords
Peer-reviewed, children, measurement, attraction to physical activity
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