Desempenho no teste MABC: uma revisão sistemática sobre questões de género

Abstract

The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) seems to be one of the most used instruments for the evaluation of motor coordination in children, allowing the identification of development coordination disorders. Differences in motor performance between genders were found with the use of several instruments. Our study aimed to systematically review differences in motorperformance between genders in studies where only MABC was used. Five databases were systematically investigated and only studies were included if the MABC test was a central objective and the gender a weighted factor. Five authors independently assessed the eligibility of the studies. A systematic review of databases and electronic reference lists has identified nineteen revised studies that meet the inclusion criteria. The results revealed that gender differences in performance were consistent in all studies, since boys were more successful and easier in activities involving gross motor skills, and girlsperformed better activities involving fine motor skills. The differences in equilibrium were not conclusive since the results of this parameter were mixed. Future publications will benefit from evidence on the form of gender distributions at the critical and lower limit of motor performance.