MK: Reliability and convergent validity of the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey Physical Activity items

When young adults attend college, they gain increased control over their lifestyles and develop a foundation of behaviors that may last throughout their lives. Research-ers have determined that physical inactiv-ity increases with age and the most rapid increase occurs in late adolescence and early adulthood (Stephens, Jacobs, & White, 1985). Many young adults on college cam-puses are not meeting current physical activity recommendations (Centers for Dis-ease Control and Prevention, 1997; Dinger, 1999; Dinger & Waigandt, 1997), and a sub-stantial proportion are leading a sedentary lifestyle (Pinto & Marcus, 1995). Because physical inactivity is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease and is also associated with increasing risk for adult-onset diabetes, hypertension, colon cancer, osteoporosis, anxiety, and depression (Pate et al., 1995), it is important that we have valid and reliable physical activity assess-ment tools that are specific to the college student population. In many settings, surveys are the most appropriate measure of physical activity because they are simple, inexpensive, unobtrusive, and generally do not require much effort on the part of the respondent (Ainsworth, 2000). A widely used survey with the college student population is th