Method: A group of 184 university students (89 girls) participating in this study recorded their daily minutes spent in any PA each day in a PA log for seven days, including transportation PA, recreational PA, job-related PA, and domestic PA. During the same week participants also wore NL-2000 PA monitors recording steps and PA-related calories. One-way MANOVA was used to examine PA differences between sexes, and PA amounts assessed using the two tools were compared. Additionally, Spearman’s rho was used to examine correlations between PA levels assessed using the two tools.
Analysis/Results: With respect to the PA monitor, there were significant differences (p < .05) between sexes in both steps (males 80,387±12,939 vs. females 74,364±17,859) and calories (3,570.65±1,080 vs. 2,938.23±965). As for the PA log, no significant differences were found in PA minutes (950.16±649.74 vs. 889.74±531.55) or MET values (66.33±41.69 vs. 62.18±37.28) between sexes. Correlations between steps/calories (from PA monitor) and PA minutes/MET values (from PA log) were significant (p < .05) but week, with r values ranging from .23-.37 for males, females, and the entire sample respectively.
Conclusions: While reflecting all PA dimensions, the PA log is less accurate in assessing PA and its correlations with the objective tool are low.
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