Movement assessment battery for children - Second edition: Cross-cultural comparison between 11-15 year old children from the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom

Abstract

BACKGROUND: With the exception of specific clinical methods, no widely used diagnostic tool for motor development assessment of children exists in the Czech Republic. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children - second edition (MABC-2) seems to be one the most developed instruments for children's motor coordination assessment. However, to use it in the Czech population of children in educational and psychological practice including physical education, the cross-validity of the test battery needs to be examined. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to make a comparative analysis of performance in motor tasks of the MABC-2 measured in a Czech sample of 11-15 year old children and the United Kingdom (UK) normative sample from which the norms of the MABC-2 were established. METHODS: The Czech sample of 11-15 year old children (total n = 589; 310 boys, 279 girls) formed from a random selection of schools from all the geographical regions of the Czech Republic and all size categories of municipalities, was tested by the MABC-2. The results were compared to the performance of the UK normative sample of the same age (n = 344) reported in the MABC-2 Examiner's Manual by Henderson et al. (2007). For this comparative analysis, the effects size coefficient (d) and the z-test were used. RESULTS: From three manual dexterity tests of the MABC-2, mean performance of the Czech sample in the Drawing trail test was shown to be significantly higher than the mean performance of the UK sample in all the age groups of both genders (d = 0.68-1.32; p < 0.01). On the other hand, the Czech sample demonstrated no significant differences of performance in the gross motor coordination tests as compared to the performance of the UK sample. Regarding balance assessment, performance in the Two-board balance test (static balance) was found to be significantly higher in almost all the age groups of Czech girls (d = 0.52-0.70, p < 0.01), while Czech boys showed a significantly higher performance only in the Zig-zag hopping test (dynamic balance) at the ages of 14 and 15 years, as compared to the UK sample. In 1.9% of boys and 0.7% of girls in the Czech sample significant motor difficulties were identified (total test score ≤5th percentile). CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed that the MABC-2 is valid only for assessment of gross motor coordination in Czech children, but not for assessment of manual dexterity and balance. Before the use of this test battery for Czech children for both practical and research purposes, an adjustment of the norms is needed for the Drawing trail test, Two-board balance test and Zig-zag hopping test.