Construct and Concurrent Validity of the Democritos Movement Screening Tool for Preschoolers

PURPOSE: To examine the construct and concurrent validity of the Democritos Movement Screening Tool for Preschool Children (DEMOST-PRE). METHODS: The DEMOST-PRE was administered to 435 Greek children, aged 48 to 71 months. Construct validity was investigated through correlations between total scores and individual item scores, and scores according to age and sex, whereas concurrent validity was checked by using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Long Form as the test-criterion on a subsample of 50 children. RESULTS: Moderate to strong, significant correlations (r = 0.390-0.831; P < .001) supported the internal consistency of the test. Age displayed a significant effect on children's scores, whereas sex did not. Furthermore, the intra-rater class coefficient calculated for concurrent validity was found to be 0.80. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the aforementioned findings, the DEMOST-PRE has adequate psychometric properties for the Greek sample analyzed.