Self-reported physical fitness of older persons:A substitute for performance-based measures of physical fitness?

To evaluate the validity of self-report measures of physical fitness as substitutes for performance-based tests, self-reports and performance-based tests of physical fitness were compared. Subjects were a community-based sample of older adults (N = 624) aged 57 and over. The performance-based tests included endurance, flexibility, strength, balance, manual dexterity, and reaction time. The self-report evaluation assessed selected individual subcomponents of fitness and used both peers and absolute standards as reference. The results showed that compared to performance-based tests, the self-report items were more strongly interrelated and they less effectively evaluated the different subdomains of physical fitness. Corresponding performance-based tests and self-report items were weakly to moderately associated. All self-report items were related most strongly with the performance-based endurance test. Apparently older people tend to estimate overall fitness, in which endurance plays an important part, rather than individual subcomponents of fitness. Therefore, thr self-report measures have limited validity as predictors of performance-based physical fitness.