Balance tests in pre-adolescent children : retest reliability, construct validity, and relative ability

Sember, Vedrana (author), Grošelj, Janja (author), Pajek, Maja (author)

Balance is an essential prerequisite for the normal physical development of a child. It consists of the ability to maintain the body’s centre of mass over its base of support, which is enabled by automatic postural adjustments, and maintain posture and stability in various conditions and activities. The present study aimed to determine the measurement characteristics (reliability and concurrent validity) and the relative ability of balance tests and different motor tests in healthy 11-year-olds. We also evaluated the impact of vision on balance ability. Our results showed high interrater reliability (from 0.810 to 0.910) and confirmed the construct validity of the included balance tests. Girls performed significantly better than boys in laboratory tandem stance in following balance components: total sway path with eyes open (BSEO) (t = 2.68, p = 0.01, effect size (ES) = 0.81), total body sway with eyes closed of centre of pressure (CoP) displacement in the a-p direction (BSEC) (t = 1.86, p = 0.07, ES = 0.57), mean velocity of CoP displacements (VEO) (t = 2.67, p = 0.01, ES = 0.83), mean amplitude of CoP displacements in the a-p direction (AapEO) (t = 3.38. p = 0.00, ES = 1.01) and in mean amplitude of CoP displacements in the m-l direction (AmlEO) (t = 3.68, p = 0.00, ES = 1.19). With eyes closed, girls performed significantly better (t = 2.28, p = 0.03, ES = 0.70) than boys did in the mean amplitude of COP displacements in the a-p direction (AapEO) and significantly better (t = 2.37, p = 0.03, ES = 0.71) in the mean amplitude of COP displacements in the m-l direction (AmlEC). Insignificant correlations between different balance tests, except for a correlation between the flamingo test and one-leg stance on a low beam (r = 0.558, p < 0.01), show that each test assesses different aspects of balance ability; therefore, balance cannot be assessed with a single test.

• Language: English
• Keywords: sport, pre-adolescent children, balance, physical fitness, physical education, testing, reliability, validity
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FŠ - Faculty of Sport
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2020
• Number of pages: 13 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 17, iss. 15, art. 5474
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-134356
• UDC: 796.01-053.2
• ISSN on article: 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17155474
• COBISS.SI-ID: 25105155
• Publication date in RUL: 10.01.2022

SEMBER, Vedrana, GROŠELJ, Janja and PAJEK, Maja, 2020, Balance tests in pre-adolescent children : retest reliability, construct validity, and relative ability. International journal of environmental research and public health [online]. 2020. Vol. 17, no. 15,  5474. [Accessed 30 May 2025]. DOI 10.3390/ijerph17155474. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=134356

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of environmental research and public health
• Shortened title: Int. j. environ. res. public health
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1660-4601
• COBISS.SI-ID: 1818965

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 01.08.2020

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: šport, mladi, otroci, ravnotežje, telesna dejavnost, športna vzgoja, testiranje, zanesljivost, verjetnost