Psychometric Properties of the Tendency to Avoid Physical Activity and Sport Scale Among Hong Kong University Students

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the Tendency to Avoid Physical Activity and Sport Scale (TAPAS) among university students living in Hong Kong to assess weight and body image concerns. A convenience sample of 787 students (63.5% females; 24.5% overweight) were recruited online. The factor structure of the scale was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Multigroup CFA was used to assess measurement invariance across gender and weight categories. The unidimensional structure of the scale was confirmed (χ² = 78.046, CFI = 0.996). Factor loading ranged from 0.536 to 0.902, and internal consistency was good (α = .93, ω = .95). The scale was measurement invariant across gender and weight status using both metric and scalar invariance methods (−0.004<ΔCFI<-0.002). The scale can help to identify barriers of weight concerns regarding physical activity engagement which would help in the development of preventive interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Tendency to Avoid Physical Activity and Sport Scale
• factor analysis
• physical activity avoidance
• psychometrics
• measurement invariance

Acknowledgments

We thank all the participants in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethical approval statement

The procedures for the present study adhered to the (i) Declaration of Helsinki, and (ii) ethical principles for medical research involving human participants. The Survey and Behavioural Research Committee at the Chinese University of Hong Kong approved the research project before the authors distributed the survey (Reference No. SBRE‐22‐0186).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by (received funding from) the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 110-2410-H-006-115; MOST 111-2410-H-006-100), the Higher Education Sprout Project, the Ministry of Education at the Headquarters of University Advancement at the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), the 2021 Southeast and South Asia and Taiwan Universities Joint Research Scheme (NCKU 31), the internal grant from the E-Da Hospital (EDAHP109027; EDCHT111007), and by the International Research Collaboration Fund granted by the Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Grant number: 19231106).