Validity and reliability of a pictorial instrument for assessing fundamental movement skill perceived competence in Chinese children

The purpose was to determine the validity and reliability of the Pictorial Scale for Perceived Movement Skill Competence (PMSC) in Chinese children. A total of 241 children (Girls, n = 119), aged from 4 to 9 (6.9±1.53) participated. One week later two random subsamples were selected. One (n = 52) was to determine face validity, and the other (n = 56) was to determine test retest reliability. Internal consistency analyses through Cronbach’s alpha and construct validity by confirmatory factor analysis were conducted. Results showed (a) face validity was better for object control skills, (b) internal consistency was adequate for each subscale and all the 13 skills (alpha range from .73 to .87), (c) Intra-Class Correlations were good for locomotor (.62), object control (.73) and all the13 skills (.78), (d) the modified two-factor model had a good fit (CFI = .96, TLI = .94, RMSEA = .04, SRMR = .05). The Chinese version of the PMSC is appropriate to use. Although considering the participants were only from Shanghai, results may not be generalizable to all Chinese children.