Measuring Health Behavior Problems in Chinese Adolescents: Scale Development and Preliminary Validation

Abstract

Background: Health behaviors shape health and well-being, improve life quality, and provide economic benefit. Adolescence is a life phase in which the opportunities for health are great. Adolescent health brings not only the benefits of the present but also the well-being of the future and the next generation. We aimed to develop a reliable and valid scale that was used to evaluate the health behavior of the late adolescent, namely, the senior high school student. Methods: In this study, we conducted two surveys: For the first survey, we recruited 526 senior high school students (318 boys, 208 girls; Mage = 16.5), and the data were used for item analysis and exploratory factor analysis. For the second survey, we recruited 542 senior high school students (249 boys, 293; girls; Mage = 15.5), and the data were used for confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency reliability analysis.Results: In exploratory factor analysis, we extracted four factors with 23 items in all: exercise awareness and habits (5 items), master and apply healthy behavior knowledge (10 items), emotional regulation (4 items), and environment adaptation (4 items). The Cronbach’s alpha values of the factors ranging from 0.863 to 0.937. A satisfactory goodness of fit model was achieved (CMIN/DF=3.18, RMR=0.04, GFI=0.90, CFI=0.92, TLI=0.91, RMSEA=0.06).Conclusions: These results suggest that the Chinese version of the Health Behavior Scale is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the health behavior of senior high school students.