Validity and reliability of the physical self-description questionnaire among adolescent girls

The aim of the present study was to determine the validity and reliability of the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire among Adolescent girls. A corrolational method was used and the statistical populations include all Tehran school aged (8-18 years) girls in Tehran. Of these, 627 participants wereselected using random multi-cluster sampling. Participants completed the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (Marsh et al., 1994). For determining factorial validity of the questionnaire exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used. Reliability was computed using Cronbach alpha. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for eight factors of Physical self-concept (sport competence, body fat, appearance, flexibility, health, physical activity, coordination and self-esteem) for adolescent girls describing aspects of physical appearance and physical ability. The eight factors explained 44.6 percent of the total variance and overall Cronbach’s alpha was 0.87. The results of this research support reliability and validity of Physical Self-Description Questionnaire as a measure of physical self-concept among adolescent girls in Iran.