Factorial Invariance and Latent Mean Structure of Questionnaires Measuring Social-cognitive Determinants of Physical Activity Among Black and White Adolescent Girls

Background: We previously developed questionnaires based on contemporary theories to measure physical activity determinants among youth [Motl et al., Prev Med 2000; 31:584-94]. The present study examined the factorial invariance and latent mean structure of unidimensional models fit to the questionnaires measuring attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and self-efficacy about physical activity among black and white adolescent girls.

Methods: Black (n = 896) and white (n = 823) girls in the 8th grade completed the questionnaires measuring attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and self-efficacy about physical activity. The responses were subjected to analyses of factorial invariance and latent mean structure using confirmatory factor analysis with full-information maximum likelihood estimation in AMOS 4.0.

Results: The unidimensional models of the four questionnaires generally demonstrated invariance of the factor structure, factor loadings, and factor variance across race but not invariance of the variance-covariance matrices or item uniquenesses. The analyses of latent mean structure demonstrated that white girls had higher latent mean scores on the measures of attitude and self-efficacy than black girls; there were similar, but smaller, differences between white and black girls on the measures of subjective norm and perceived behavioral control.

Conclusions: The questionnaires can be employed in interventions to test the mediating influences of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and self-efficacy on participation in physical activity by black and white adolescent girls.