Sex Differences in Gross Motor Quotient among Students: Evidence from TGMD-2 Assessment

Objectives. This study aims to assess and compare Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) using gender-based Gross Motor Quotient (GMQ) scores in elementary school students. Materials and methods. The study involved 24 fourth-grade elementary school students (12 boys, 12 girls; M±SD = 10.21±0.41) to assess gross motor skills using the TGMD-2. The locomotor and object-control subtests were assessed in two trials using binary criteria and then converted into standard scores and GMQ values. The analysis included descriptive statistics, normality tests, independent t-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests, and effect size calculations to compare motor skills between genders. Results. Gross Motor Quotient (GMQ) analysis showed that most students had low gross motor skill levels. The boys' group was in the very poor category (GMQ 58-67) for both locomotor and object-control skills, indicating low uniformity across subtests. The girls' group showed greater variation (GMQ 61-82), but the majority were still classified in the very poor or poor categories. Independent-samples t-tests on the locomotor and object-control subtests showed no significant differences between genders, except for the slide subtest, in which girls performed better (p = 0.038). A Mann-Whitney U test on the GMQ confirmed a significant difference between the groups, with girls outperforming boys (p = 0.005; effect size = 0.57). These findings confirm the low level of gross motor skills among students and emphasize the need for structured motor learning interventions to improve locomotor and object-control competencies. Conclusions. Future research should explore game-based adaptive learning models, optimal exercise dosage, and the integration of sensorimotor and motivational approaches to improve elementary school students’ GMQ.