Gender differences in performance of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children - 2<sup>nd</sup> edition test in adolescents

Abstract

Background: The Movement Assessment Battery for Children - 2nd edition (MABC-2) is used for the assessment of motor proficiency and identification of motor impairments in 3-16 year old children. Although there are some gender differences in the motor development of children, in the MABC-2 test the same tasks and norms are used for both genders. Objective: The aim of the study was to determine gender differences in performance of motor tasks involved in the MABC-2 test in adolescents aged 15 to 16. Methods: Participants (N = 121, 50 boys and 71 girls, mean age 16.0 ± 0.5 years) randomly recruited from schools were assessed using the MABC-2 test. The Mann-Whitney U test and effect size r were used to analyse gender differences in performance outcome in the particular motor tasks of the MABC-2 test. Results: As compared to the boys, the girls achieved a significantly shorter time of completion of the unimanual coordination task executed with their preferred hand (p < .001, r = .33) and significantly fewer errors in the graphomotor task (p = .001, r = .29). On the other hand, the boys achieved significantly better results than the girls in the aiming and catching tasks (p ≤ .030, r = .20-.33). Performance in the dynamic balance tasks was not significantly different between genders. The girls demonstrated a significantly longer duration of static balance in one-leg standing as compared to the boys (p = .011, r = .23). For the motor tasks some statistical differences were found, however the effect size of the gender on performance was small or medium. Conclusions: The findings of the study suggest that gender could be a significant factor of performance in the motor tasks associated with object control such as aiming and catching. Other domains, such as manual dexterity and balance, seem to be influenced by gender to a small extent.