An exploratory study of the MABC-2 Checklist in Hungarian preschool children: agreement with examiner-based psychomotor classification
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background Early motor and broader developmental functioning are relevant to successful school entry, but cross-sectional screening procedures cannot by themselves determine overall school readiness or predict later academic outcomes. Objective This exploratory study examined selected psychomotor indicators in a Hungarian preschool sample and compared teacher-based MABC-2 Checklist classifications with a study-specific examiner-based psychomotor classification, and examined the pattern of disagreement between the two procedures. Methods Seventy-three children aged 5–7 years (mean age 6.46 ± 0.44 years) from three urban kindergarten classes in Pest County, Hungary, participated in the study. The assessment included anthropometric measurements, primitive-reflex observations, and gross-motor task performance, which were combined into a three-category examiner-based classification using an explicit decision framework. Preschool teachers completed the MABC-2 Checklist. Agreement between the two ordered three-category classifications was examined using cross-tabulation, percentage agreement, and linearly weighted Cohen’s kappa with a bootstrap 95% confidence interval; sensitivity and specificity of the Checklist relative to the examiner-based classification were calculated as exploratory indices of convergence. Results Mean height was within the reference range used in the study, whereas mean body weight was descriptively somewhat higher and should be interpreted cautiously. Based on the teacher-based MABC-2 Checklist, 43.8% of children were categorized as at risk of motor difficulty or as showing motor difficulty; the corresponding proportion for the examiner-based classification was 50.7%. The two classification approaches were concordant in 71.2% of cases; linearly weighted Cohen’s kappa was 0.503 (95% CI 0.315–0.677), indicating moderate agreement. Agreement was lowest in the at-risk category (63.6%), and 9 of the 21 discordant cases differed by two categories, almost always with teachers rating as unproblematic children whom the examiner classified as showing motor difficulty. Relative to the examiner-based classification, the sensitivity of the Checklist was 70.3% and its specificity 83.3%. Conclusion In this exploratory Hungarian preschool sample, the MABC-2 Checklist showed partial agreement with an examiner-based psychomotor classification. Because the examiner-based procedure was study-specific and non-standardized, and because the developmental significance of primitive-reflex indicators remains contested, the agreement estimates describe convergence between two rater-dependent procedures rather than validity. These findings do not constitute formal validation of the checklist and should not be interpreted as evidence of overall school readiness or prediction of later academic outcomes. Larger studies using formally adapted instruments, reliability analyses, standardized reference procedures, and longitudinal follow-up are needed before broader standalone use can be recommended.
Source: Frontiers in Psychology
Institution: Eszterhazy Karoly Catholic University
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7223679185