Comparisons of Subjective and Objective Measures of Free-Living Daily Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in College Students

Purpose To compare physical activity and sedentary behavior between four commonly used subjective and objective measures: the 7-day Physical Activity Recall (7DPAR), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), pedometer, and accelerometer. Methods A total of 130 college students completed four measures for the same 7 days. Body composition was measured using a bioelectric impedance analyzer. Wilcoxon signed rank tests and Spearman correlations were performed to compare estimates between activity measures. The Spearman correlations between different activity measures were further examined separately for the higher and the lower body fat groups. Results Compared with accelerometer-derived data, both the 7DPAR and the IPAQ overestimated light physical activity ( P