Adaptation of the “Attitudes Toward Physical Activity Scale” for higher education students in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to adapt the “Attitudes toward Physical Activity Scale” (APAS) for Turkish higher education students. Study was conducted during 2018–2019 autumn semester at a public university in the central Anatolia region of Turkey. The APAS was applied to 1021 voluntary university students from eleven different faculties and departments of the university. Descriptive statistics, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, internal consistency coefficients were used in statistical analysis. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a six factor solution explaining 60.2% of the variance. Then, confirmatory factor analysis on the 38 items showed good fit to the 6-dimension model according to the goodness-of-fit criteria. The psychometric data of the scale showed that the Turkish version of the scale for higher education students reached the required levels. As a result, the “Attitudes toward Physical Activity Scale” can be used in reliable and valid way at higher education students in Turkey at national or cross-cultural studies in examining physical activity attitudes.