The reliability of the Adolescent Sedentary Activity Questionnaire (ASAQ)

Objective To determine the test–retest reliability of a self-report questionnaire (the Adolescent Sedentary Activities Questionnaire; ASAQ) which assesses the time spent in a comprehensive range of sedentary activities, among school-aged young people. Method Two-hundred and fifty school students aged 11–15 years from four primary and four high schools in metropolitan Sydney (New South Wales, Australia) completed the questionnaire under the same conditions on two occasions, 2 weeks apart during Autumn, 2002. Results Test–retest correlations for time total spent in sedentary behavior were ≥ 0.70, except for Grade 6 boys (Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.57, 95%CI: 0.25, 0.76). Repeatability was generally higher on week days compared with week end days. ICC values for travel and social activities tended to be lower than for the other categories of sedentary behavior. There was little difference in the reliability across age groups. Conclusions ASAQ has good to excellent reliability in the measurement of a broad range of sedentary behaviors among young people. ASAQ has good face validity, but further validity testing is required to provide a complete assessment of the instrument.