The construct of balance control in primary school-aged children: Unidimensional and task-specific

E. Verbecque*, K. Klingels, E. Rameckers, G. Ferguson, B. Smits-Engelsman

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the dimensionality and task-specificity of balance control by investigating the relationships between different tasks and the degree to which these tasks belong to the same construct in primary school-aged children. Seventy-four South African children were randomly selected from a sample of convenience. They performed 18 different balance tasks that were grouped into four balance scales: the Performance and Fitness (PERF-FIT) static balance score, the PERF-FIT dynamic balance score, the PERF-FIT moving cans balance score and the Balance Sensory score. Spearman rank correlations were calculated between the scores. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to investigate the number of factors within the construct. Moderate to good correlations were found between: i) PERF-FIT Moving cans balance score and the Balance Sensory score (r = 0.605, p < 0.001); ii) PERF-FIT static balance score and the PERF-FIT Moving cans (r = 0.586, p < 0.001); iii) PERF-FIT static balance score and the Balance Sensory score (r = 0.541, p < 0.001). All other correlations were low to fair. The PCA revealed one component. The three PERF-FIT items (moving cans-, static- and dynamic balance score) and the Balance Sensory score explained 59.4% of the variance of total balance performance.
Original languageEnglish
Article number102847
Number of pages8
JournalHuman Movement Science
Volume79
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2021

Keywords

  • Child[Mesh]
  • Task-specificity
  • Unidimensionality
  • "balance control"
  • "postural balance"[Mesh]
  • MOVEMENT ASSESSMENT BATTERY
  • POSTURAL CONTROL
  • PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES
  • MINI-BESTEST
  • PERFORMANCE
  • VALIDITY
  • TESTS

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