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Sunday, November 1, 2009: 4:15 PM
Background: Obesity is a major concern for American youth with adverse outcomes on physical and mental health. Documenting changes in healthy lifestyle behaviors is key to prevent and treat obesity. There is a lack of validated instrumentation for youth addressing healthy lifestyle behaviors.
Purpose: The purpose of this instrumentation study was to validate psychometric properties of the Adolescent Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale (AHLBS).
Methods: The AHLBS is composed of 16 items addressing behaviors related to healthy lifestyles. Subjects respond to items (e.g., “I exercise on a regular basis”) on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree to strongly agree”. Face validity was established with 10 teens and content validity was established with 8 adolescent health experts. The AHLBS was administered to 374 adolescents at 2 urban high schools in the southwest United States.
Findings: Internal consistency reliability on the 16 item scale was .89. Construct validity was supported with principle components analysis loading on 2 factors.
Implications: Assessment of behavior has implications for designing and evaluating healthy lifestyle programs for adolescents. The AHLBS is a valid and reliable scale measuring self reported lifestyle behaviors in this population, and can be used both in future research and clinical practice to tailor interventions to influence these important behaviors
Purpose: The purpose of this instrumentation study was to validate psychometric properties of the Adolescent Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale (AHLBS).
Methods: The AHLBS is composed of 16 items addressing behaviors related to healthy lifestyles. Subjects respond to items (e.g., “I exercise on a regular basis”) on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree to strongly agree”. Face validity was established with 10 teens and content validity was established with 8 adolescent health experts. The AHLBS was administered to 374 adolescents at 2 urban high schools in the southwest United States.
Findings: Internal consistency reliability on the 16 item scale was .89. Construct validity was supported with principle components analysis loading on 2 factors.
Implications: Assessment of behavior has implications for designing and evaluating healthy lifestyle programs for adolescents. The AHLBS is a valid and reliable scale measuring self reported lifestyle behaviors in this population, and can be used both in future research and clinical practice to tailor interventions to influence these important behaviors