Validity of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children test - 2nd edition in older adolescents

Background: The Movement Assessment Battery for Children test - 2nd edition (MABC-2) is one of the most commonly used tools to assess motor coordination in children. The question for clinical and psychological practice is whether the age band 3 (AB3) could be suitable also for 17-19-year-old adolescents. Objective: To examine the validity of the MABC-2 - AB3 test for 17-19-year-old adolescents. Methods: : One hundred twenty participants (60 boys and 60 girls) were assessed using the AB3 of the MABC-2 test. The validity of the AB3 for 17-19-year-old adolescents was assessed using two procedures: (1) analysis of the age factor for performance in AB3 tasks (Kruskal-Wallis test), (2) the confirmatory factor analysis using the IBM SPSS AMOS 22.0 version performed on the test scores to verify the three-factor structure of the MABC-2 test. Results: Age was an important factor only in the unimanual task performed with the dominant and non-dominant hand, and in the bimanual task. The data of the 17-19-year-old participants did not fit to the original three-factor model of the MABC-2 test but fit to the modified model with two latent factors - manual dexterity and aiming & catching (χ2(25) = 28.224, p = .298, relative χ2 = 1.129, root-mean-square-error of approximation = .033, goodness of fit index = 0.966, adjusted goodness of fit index = 0.920, and Tucker-Lewis index = 0.977). Conclusions: The AB3 version of the MABC-2 test indicated unsatisfactory validity for the assessment of motor competency in 17-19-year-old adolescents. The aiming and catching tasks, together with unimanual and bimanual coordination tasks seem to be applicable in psychological, educational and clinical practice for motor testing of older adolescents. However, the creation of new norms for older adolescents should be taken into consideration.