Psychometric validation of the persian short form of the physical literacy in children questionnaire in Iranian children aged 4-12 years: factorial validity, internal consistency, and gender-based measurement invariance.

@article{afazeli2026psychometric,
  title = {{Psychometric validation of the persian short form of the physical literacy in children questionnaire in Iranian children aged 4-12 years: factorial validity, internal consistency, and gender-based measurement invariance.}},
  author = {Zahra Afazeli and Behzad Mohammadi Orangi and Fahimeh Hassani},
  journal = {BMC pediatrics},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.1186/s12887-026-07439-5},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42968055},
  note = {CC BY},
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Psychometric validation of the persian short form of the physical literacy in children questionnaire in Iranian children aged 4-12 years: factorial validity, internal consistency, and gender-based measurement invariance.
AU  - Zahra Afazeli
AU  - Behzad Mohammadi Orangi
AU  - Fahimeh Hassani
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/03
JO  - BMC pediatrics
DO  - 10.1186/s12887-026-07439-5
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42968055
AB  - Objectives  The Physical Literacy (PL) in Children Questionnaire (PL-C Quest) is a 30-item pictorial instrument assessing children's PL across four domains. A 12-item short form has recently been developed; however, its psychometric properties have not been examined in Persian-speaking populations. This study evaluated the factorial validity, internal consistency, and measurement invariance of the Persian short form in Iranian children.Design  Pooled cross-sectional.Methods  Data from two independent validation studies conducted in Tehran were pooled, yielding a sample of 2,213 children aged 4-12 years (1,143 girls; mean age = 7.6 ± 3.51 years). Second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed using the WLSMV estimator. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha, ordinal alpha, McDonald's omega, composite reliability, and average variance extracted (AVE). Measurement invariance across gender and age groups (4-7 vs. 8-12 years) was examined using sequential multi-group CFA.Results  The hierarchical four-factor model demonstrated excellent fit (CFI = 0.996, TLI = 0.994, RMSEA = 0.032, SRMR = 0.030). Standardized item loadings ranged from 0.570 to 0.776, while higher-order factor loadings ranged from 0.851 to 0.988. Internal split-sample cross-validation confirmed the stability of the proposed factor structure. Internal consistency was acceptable for the Physical (ω = 0.714), Cognitive (ω = 0.649), and Psychological (ω = 0.638) subscales, whereas the two-item Social subscale showed lower reliability (ω = 0.503). Composite reliability values ranged from 0.599 to 0.779 and AVE values from 0.431 to 0.471. Full scalar measurement invariance was supported across both gender (ΔCFI ≤ 0.001; ΔRMSEA ≤ 0.003) and age groups (ΔCFI ≤ 0.003; ΔRMSEA ≤ 0.005).Conclusions  The Persian short form of the PL-C Quest demonstrated a well-fitting hierarchical factor structure, acceptable internal consistency for most domains, and equivalent measurement across gender and developmental age groups. These findings support its potential utility for research and group-level assessment of PL in Iranian children. Nevertheless, evidence for convergent and discriminant validity remained limited, and important psychometric properties, including criterion validity, test-retest reliability, responsiveness, and measurement error, were not examined. Accordingly, further validation in more diverse populations and against external criteria is required before routine clinical or educational implementation can be recommended.
SN  - 1471-2431
ER  -