Reliability of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children – Second Edition: Age Band 2

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of age band 2 of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children – Second Edition (MABC-2), using test re-test, internal consistency, and standard error of measurement (SEM) reliability estimates. To date, only one study has been conducted on the reliability of age band 2 (7 to 10 year olds) (Holm, Tveter, Aulie, & Stuge, 2013), thus more research is warranted as many practitioners consider this tool as a gold standard in this area. Forty typically functioning children (18 boys, 22 girls) between the ages of 7 and 10 (M = 9 years, 0 months, 5 days, SD = 1 year, 0 months, 15 days) participated in this study. Each child completed two, thirty-minute sessions, one to two weeks apart, and was examined by the same researcher in the same laboratory setting. Intra-class correlation (ICC) coefficient was used to examine the test-retest stability of the Total Impairment Score (TIS) and three sub-section scores. Cronbach’s alpha was used to examine the internal consistency of the items. Lastly, the SEM was computed to infer the magnitude of absolute reliability for each of the four scores. The normality, skewness and kurtosis of ICC, Cronbach’s alpha and SEM were tested first across standard, component, and percentile scores. The analyses showed that for the standard scores, aiming and catching and balance sessions at time 1, and balance items at time 2 did not meet the assumptions of normality. The component scores showed similar results, while the assumption of normality was jeopardized for six out of eight percentile scores. The analyses of variance and scatterplots supported the inferences emerging from the normality tests. Overall, the normality results revealed that the standard scores best represented a normal distribution and met the necessary statistical assumptions.