ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT AMONG CHILDREN

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the level of gross motor development among children based on ethnic differences. A total of 49 subjects aged between 8 to 9 years old were volunteered involve in this study (age, 8.55 ± .50 years old). There are two Malaysian ethnic involved in this study namely Malay (n = 28) and Indian (n = 21). All of the subjects are among students in one of the primary schools in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The subjects’ level of gross motor development was assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development version 2 (TGMD-2). The instrument was used to examine two important aspects of gross motor that are locomotor and object manipulation.  The locomotor component skills consist of running, galloping, hopping, leaping, jumping and sliding. While the object manipulation component consists of striking, dribbling, catching, kicking, throwing and rolling. The findings showed that there were no differences observed on level of gross motor development between Malay and Indian in locomotor [t (46) = .524, p (.60)> .05] and object manipulation [t (44.09) = -1.45, p (.19)> .05]. The Gross Motor Quotient (GMQ) score showed by Malay (min = 87.46) and Indian (min = 81.00) are below average of level of gross motor development. In conclusion, the gross motor performance among children is lower compared to their actual age. While ethnic factors are not strong indicator to determine children’s gross motor development in Malaysia.