Agreement among physical educators, teachers and parents on children's behaviors: a multitrait-multimethod design approach.
PE teacher ratings on the Motor Behavior Checklist match teacher and parent views, so you can safely fold gym-class data into your behavior picture.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked PE teachers, classroom teachers, and parents to rate the same kids.
They used a new tool called the Motor Behavior Checklist (MBC).
Then they checked if the three groups gave matching scores for externalizing and social problems.
What they found
PE teacher ratings lined up well with teacher and parent ratings.
The match shows the MBC is valid for spotting attention and behavior issues.
How this fits with other research
Efstratopoulou et al. (2012) extends this work. The same authors later showed PE teachers can use the MBC to tell ADHD, conduct disorder, and autism apart.
Chen et al. (2009) seems to disagree at first. They found different motor tests flag different risk profiles in kids with coordination disorder. The difference is in the tool: Yu-Wei looked at performance tests, while Maria used a rating scale.
Fransen et al. (2014) backs the idea that no single motor tool gives the full picture. They found moderate overlap between BOT-2 and KTK, so using both gives clearer data.
Why it matters
You can trust PE teacher data. If the gym teacher flags a child for acting out, the classroom teacher and parent likely see it too. Add the MBC to your triad of reporters. It takes two minutes and costs nothing.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The study examines the agreement among raters on children's problematic behaviors. A multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) matrix was applied to a normative sample of elementary school-aged children (N = 841). The participants were rated by their physical educators, using the Motor Behavior Checklist for children (MBC; Efstratopoulou, Janssen, & Simons, 2012). Teachers and parents rated the same students using the Teacher Report Form (TRF; Achenbach, 1991b), the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991a) and the ADHD Rating Scale-IV (DuPaul, Power, Anastopoulos, & Reid, 1998). The resulting matrix revealed significant correlations for the Rules Breaking, Lack of Attention, Hyperactivity/Impulsivity, Lack of Social interaction problem scale and for the Internalizing, Externalizing and Total scores. Convergent validity of the specific MBC subscales was supported by significant correlations with the corresponding subscales of TRF, CBCL and ADHD Rating Scale-IV. Findings underscore the importance of taking child's settings and observer influences into account and suggest that MBC is a new promising instrument that can provide valid ratings on externalizing behavior and social problems in children when used by physical educators in school settings.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.03.015