Rasch Analysis of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale Among 9th- and 10th-Grade Students

Rasch Model analysis was used to evaluate construct validity and reliability of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) in an adolescent population. A total of 349 9th and 10th graders (180 male; 169 female), aged 13 to 15 years (M = 14.13 SD = .793), completed the 18-item PACES scale at the conclusion of physical education classes. Responses to PACES items were analyzed using Rasch partial credit model. Of the 18 PACES items, five were identified as misfit items and were removed. The remaining 13 good-fit items (difficulty level ranged from -0.81 for Item #10 to 0.66 logits for Item #18) demonstrated one dimension which accounted for 62.4% of the variance, with the person separation index was 3.01; however, the 6-point Likert response format was not appropriate for some remaining items. No items presented differential item functioning (DIF) between genders. Rasch analysis supported the construct validity and reliability of PACES to assess PA enjoyment among 9th and 10th grade high school students after removing five misfit items.