Evidence of reliability and validity for the pictorial scale of perceived movement skill competence in Spanish children

Perceived motor competence is a subdomain of perceived physical competence that is related to the practice of physical activity and motor skills. A scale that assesses perceived motor competence (locomotor, object control, & active play skills) in children is the pictorial scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence (PMSC). The purpose of the present study was twofold: first, to translate the PMSC into Spanish and to test the reliability (internal consistency and test-retest) and construct validity of the aforementioned scale in a Spanish sample; second, to analyze children’s perception of motor competence according to gender. Two hundred and forty seven typically developed children (51% boys) between 5 and 11 years-old participated in the study. Internal consistency reliability was acceptable. Children’s test-retest reliability was between high and excellent. A Bayesian Structural Equation (BSEM) approach showed the original hypothesized three factor model was a poor fit but a two-factor model (i.e., locomotion and object control) was an adequate fit. Boys reported higher perception in the object control and overall motor competence, but similar perception in locomotor skills to girls. The PMSC can provide a useful way to study the nature and impact of motor competence perception in young children of Spanish speaking communities.