Age and sex differences in motor performance of pre-school Nigerian children

Differences in motor performance according to chronological age and gender of 341 young Nigerian children (ages 3 to 5) were examined. Motor test items designed by Morris et al. (1981) were administered to the subjects. Analysis of variance was used to determine significant differences in the motor performance of the groups. In the whole sample, more age differences than sex differences in performance were noted. Except for the balancing and running performances of the girls, a fairly linear trend of improvement with age was observed in the motor performances of the groups. At each age level the boys consistently performed better than the girls in four of the six motor tests (catching, standing long jump, tennis ball throw and speed run). Generally, the 4- and 5-year-old children performed homogeneously, with a great disparity in performance noted for the 3-year-old children. The results of this study confirm that age and sex differences in motor performance occur at early childhood. Prospective studies should seek to control the extraneous factors which influence motor development and account for the observed differences in motor performance of pre-school children.