Age-and sex-specific percentile curves for the Test of Gross Motor Development from 7,263 children aged 3-5 years from 13 countries

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Martins, Clarice and Webster, Elizabeth K. and Romo-Perez, Vicente and Salami, Sedigheh and Lemos, Luís Filipe and Duncan, Michael J and Bardid, Farid and Staiano, Amanda and Okely, Anthony and Kambas, Antonis and Sääkslahti, Arja and Pesce, Caterina and Honrubia, Cristina and Magistro, Daniele and Niemistö, Donna and Carlevaro, Fabio and Magno, Francesca and Nobre, Glauber and Aires, Ivina and Estevan, Isaac and Paez Herrera, Jacqueline and Soto-Sanchez, Johana and Mota, Jorge and Ribeiro, José and Almonacid, Juan H and Ning, Ke and Robinson, Leah E. and Karageorgopoulou, Maria and Lagoa, Maria João and Lenoir, Matthieu and Quan, Minghui and Valentini, Nadia C and Dehkordi, Parvaneh S. and Gil Madrona, Pedro and Cross, Penny and Jones, Rachel and Henrique, Rafael and Tassitano, Rafael and Chen, Si-Tong and Biino, Valentina and Diao, Yucui and Bandeira, Paulo and Barnett, Lisa M. (2026) Age-and sex-specific percentile curves for the Test of Gross Motor Development from 7,263 children aged 3-5 years from 13 countries. Journal of Motor Learning and Development. ISSN 2325-3215 (In Press) (https://doi.org/10.1123/jmld.2025-0151)

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Abstract

Motor competence (MC) is a key component of child development, often assessed through skillfulness in fundamental motor skills (FMS). The process-oriented Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD) 2nd and 3rd editions have been extensively used to measure children´s MC. However, there is a lack of international percentile curves available against which children’s scores can be compared across different cultural contexts. The aim of this study was to present percentile curves for the 2nd and 3rd versions of the TGMD in 3- to 5-year-old children, based on a cross-cultural and income diverse population. This study is based on secondary analysis of pooled data of 7263 children who completed the 2nd or the 3rd edition of the TGMD in 13 countries. The Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) model, with the Box-Cox Power Exponential (BCPE) adjusted method was used to construct percentile curves within each 3-month age category, according to sex. The percentile curves provide a foundational framework for interpreting MC internationally. The findings advocate for periodic updates to the percentile curves developed to ensure global standards for MC remain relevant and actionable.

ORCID iDs

Martins, Clarice, Webster, Elizabeth K., Romo-Perez, Vicente, Salami, Sedigheh, Lemos, Luís Filipe, Duncan, Michael J, Bardid, Farid ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8591-0596, Staiano, Amanda, Okely, Anthony, Kambas, Antonis, Sääkslahti, Arja, Pesce, Caterina, Honrubia, Cristina, Magistro, Daniele, Niemistö, Donna, Carlevaro, Fabio, Magno, Francesca, Nobre, Glauber, Aires, Ivina, Estevan, Isaac, Paez Herrera, Jacqueline, Soto-Sanchez, Johana, Mota, Jorge, Ribeiro, José, Almonacid, Juan H, Ning, Ke, Robinson, Leah E., Karageorgopoulou, Maria, Lagoa, Maria João, Lenoir, Matthieu, Quan, Minghui, Valentini, Nadia C, Dehkordi, Parvaneh S., Gil Madrona, Pedro, Cross, Penny, Jones, Rachel, Henrique, Rafael, Tassitano, Rafael, Chen, Si-Tong, Biino, Valentina, Diao, Yucui, Bandeira, Paulo and Barnett, Lisa M.;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)