94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1544738
This article is part of the Research Topic Children's Health and Screen Time View all 7 articles
Validity and reliability of the Movement Behaviour Questionnaire Child (MBQ-C) in Chinese preschoolers
Provisionally accepted- 1 The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Region, China
- 2 Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China
- 3 China Institute of Sport Science, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
Background: The Movement Behaviour Questionnaire Child (MBQ-C) was developed to measure physical activity, screen time, and sleep in preschool children, but the Chinese version lacked validation.Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the open-ended version of the MBQ-C among Chinese preschoolers. Data were collected from 892 parents of children aged 0-5 years across 10 provinces via an online questionnaire. The MBQ-C includes items on physical activity, screen time, and sleep, and was validated against device-measured physical activity using accelerometers.Results: Internal consistency was high, with Cronbach's alpha values ranging from 0.80 to 0.88 for different sections. Test-retest reliability showed moderate intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between 0.52 and 0.72. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated good construct validity (CFI = 0.95). Moderate significant correlations were found between MBQ-C reported physical activity and devicemeasured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (R = 0.35, p < 0.001).The open-ended version of the MBQ-C demonstrates good validity and reliability in assessing movement behaviours among Chinese preschoolers. This tool is effective for proxyreported measurements and can contribute to understanding and promoting healthy movement behaviours in early childhood.
Keywords: Reliability, validity, movement behaviour, Preschool children, physical activity
Received: 13 Dec 2024; Accepted: 10 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Song, Lu, Wang, Lau and Peng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Patrick, Wing-chung Lau, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.