Reference centiles based on year-to-year changes for a longitudinal evaluation of motor performance in children and adolescents

Abstract

Objectives The aim was to evaluate the longitudinal course of motor skills development in children with a view to improve the understanding of intra-individual variance. Previous publications have been based on cross-sectional data or analyzed longitudinal studies in a cross-sectional manner. Design Longitudinal. Year-to-year change. Methods The present study is based on motor function data collected in the LIFE Child study (Germany). The participants (6 to 17 years) completed parts of the motor tests according to the standard of the German Motor Performance Test 6–18 (DMT). For a total of 1653 participants, 4616 motor tests with an annual interval in the period 2011 to 2019 were included in the evaluation. Results We were able to produce gender and age-specific change centiles for the test items standing long jump, jumping sideways, push-ups, stand and reach and balancing walking backwards. Each set of centiles revealed a range of variability in motor development in children and adolescents, with distinct progressive patterns in the different test items and different genders. The supplied tables offer an indication of expected year-to-year change for each test item depending on age and gender. Depending on the test item and the mean age, a deterioration in test results after a one-year interval was observed, despite cross-sectional centiles showing an upward trend. Conclusion We present a user-friendly tool as a way to assess individual dynamic changes in motor development of children and adolescents. In combination with the well-known cross-sectional centiles as baseline, this can be helpful for the scientific evaluation of motor skills tests and can also be used in school settings.