Development and initial validation of the adolescent exercise habits scale (AEHS) among Chinese population

Background Establishing regular exercise habits during adolescence is essential for fostering lifelong physical activity participation. Despite its importance, reliable and culturally appropriate tools to assess exercise habits among Chinese adolescents remain limited. This study aimed to develop and validate the adolescent exercise habit scale (AEHS), a psychometrically sound instrument for assessing self-reported exercise habits in this population. Methods Grounded in a multidimensional conceptual framework, the initial 33-item pool was generated based on literature review and expert consultation. A total of 1346 students aged 12 to 18 from Jiangsu China completed the preliminary version of the scale. Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were conducted to refine the scale structure, followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test its factorial validity. In addition, we employed a percentile-based method to classify adolescents' exercise habit levels according to their scale scores. Results The final AEHS consisted of 12 items loading on three dimensions: exercise consistency, self-motivation, and integration of exercise into daily life. The AEHS showed acceptable internal consistency, content validity, convergent validity and criterion-related validity (Cronbach’s α ranged from 0.705 to 0.855, CVI values ranged from 0.79 to 0.87, AVE values ranged from 0.378 to 0.603, and correlation coefficients ranged from 0.564 to 0.659). The AEHS also enables the classification of adolescents' exercise habits into low, moderate, and high levels based on their total scores. Conclusions Overall, the AEHS appears to be a valid and reliable tool for evaluating adolescent exercise habits in Chinese contexts and may contribute to more targeted interventions in physical activity promotion.