Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of a Resistance Training Skill Battery for use in Chinese-speaking adolescents.

Purpose: Although the Resistance Training Skills Battery (RTSB) is a well-established instrument for assessing resistance training (RT) skill competency in Western populations, its applicability to Chinese adolescents remains unvalidated. This study aimed to translate, cross-culturally adapted, and validated the RTSB for Mandarin-speaking Chinese adolescents. Methods: Employing established guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation, our study involved translating the RTSB into Chinese (RTSB-C), followed by back-translation, adaptation, and validation. The study quantified test-retest reliability, intra- and inter-rater reliability, and construct validity. Adolescents aged 12-16 years (n = 64) underwent two RTSB-C assessments, two weeks apart. Muscular fitness was evaluated using muscle fitness tests (handgrip strength, timed push-up, and countermovement jumps) to establish criterion validity. Results: The RTSB-C demonstrated fair to excellent test-retest reliability across the two timepoints, the intra-class coefficient (ICC) for the RTSB-C was notably high at 0.94 (95% CI [0.90-0.95]); The intra-rater reliability was 0.94 (p < 0.001), and inter-rater reliability was 0.41-0.93 (p < 0.05). Construct validity was confirmed through linear regression analysis, with the model accounting for 46.8% of the variance in muscle fitness scores (MFS), and with gender (r = 0.47, p < 0.001) and RTSB-C scores (r = 0.45, p < 0.001) emerging as significant predictors. Conclusions: We successfully translated and cross-culturally adapted the RTSB from English to Chinese, affirming its reliability and validity in assessing the RT skills of Chinese-speaking adolescents. The RTSB-C is recommended for accurate evaluation of RT competence in this demographic.