Comparison of methods to measure physical activity in Finnish adolescents

Physical activity (PA) offers significant health benefits. A number of measurement techniques are available for assessing PA in children and adolescents. Self-reported PA measures have been used widely in Finnish, and the international studies due to economical and practical issues. However, previous findings have shown that children and adolescents are less able than adults to recall their PA, consequently questionnaires provide a poor measure of PA in children and adolescents. To advance research on PA in children and youth, it is important to obtain valid and reliable measurements of typical behavior. The aim of this study is to compare different self-report and direct methods to measure PA in Finnish adolescents. The sample comprised 142 students (girls = 86, boys = 56) aged between 13- to 16-years (M = 14.95, SD = .89) from secondary school located in Northeast Finland. According to the findings of certain study, both self-report and direct techniques are recommended to be used in measuring PA in adolescents.