Psychometric proprieties of the Test of Gross Motor Development–Third Edition in a large sample of Italian children

Abstract

Objectives: The Test of Gross Motor Development-3 (TGMD-3) evaluates fundamental gross motor skills across two domains: locomotor and ball skills. This study aimed to perform a full psychometric assessment of this test in a large sample of Italian pre-and primary school children. Design: Cross-sectional and test-retest study design. Method: Children N = 5210; mean age years = 8.38, SD = 1.97; % females = 48 completed three trials, including one practice. Only the scores of the two latter 'formal' trials were recorded for the evaluation. Factorial validity and measurement invariance of TGMD-3 across age and gender groups and test-retest reliability for the overtime measure consistency were tested. Item response theory analysis further tested single items' performances. Results: Explorative and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the two-factor structure of the TGMD-3. Multi-group confirmatory factor analyses indicated that there were no significant reductions in model adjustments between the configural, metric and structural invariance solutions for gender and age groups. Test-retest results ranged between 0.967 and 0.990 for both skill sets across age groups. Item response theory analysis using a graded response model showed low standard error and high-test information levels covering a wide spectrum range of both locomotor and ball skills. Conclusions: These results highlight the strong construct validity and reliability of the TGMD-3 to measure gross motor skills in children across gender and age groups. Item response theory analysis evidenced how the performance criteria included in this test cover a wide range of gross the motor skills spectrum. The use of TGMD-3 may inform motor development programs and support curricular decisions in schools.

The validity and reliability of observational assessment tools available to measure fundamental movement skills in school-age children: A systematic review

“…Sixteen studies evaluated the structure of the items within various editions of the TGMD, consistently finding a two factor model (locomotion and object control) for the TGMD [ 152 ], TGMD-2 [ 59 , 63 , 68 , 77 , 82 , 142 , 143 , 146 , 147 ], TGMD-2 SF [ 84 ] and TGMD-3 [ 85 , 144 , 145 , 149 , 151 ], as predicted by multiple studies [ 59 , 146 , 149 , 152 ]. It is, however, important to note that some of these models enabled cross-loading of items [e.g.…”

“…Brian et al [67] Estevan et al [149] Maeng et al [150] Magistro et al [151] Rintala et al [140] Valentini et al [85] Wagner et al [144] Webster & Ulrich [145] NB https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237919.t006…”

Test of Gross Motor Development-3: Item Difficulty and Item Differential Functioning by Gender and Age with Rasch Analysis

“…Fundamental motor skill levels have been investigated for children worldwide using the various versions of the Test of Gross Motor Development [ 10 ]. The psychometrics of the TGMD-3 have been investigated in the United States [ 11 , 12 ], Brazil [ 13 , 14 ], Germany [ 15 ], Iran [ 16 ], Persia [ 17 ], Bosnia and Herzegovina [ 18 ], Spain [ 19 ], Italy [ 20 ], Canada [ 21 ], Greece [ 22 ] and Ireland [ 23 ]. The results provide relevant information about TGMD-3-appropriate indexes of reliability [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 24 , 25 ] and factorial structure [ 13 , 14 , 18 , 21 ].…”

“…To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study investigated the TGMD-3 motor criteria regarding variance and hierarchal order. For example, two recent studies investigated the TGMD-3 skills discriminant power across gender and age [ 20 , 21 ]. However, the motor criteria were not addressed, and although the results provided insights into the skills difficulties, they did not provide information about item hierarchal difficulty.…”

Qualidade avaliativa do Test of Gross Motor Development 2: Uma investigação com base na Teoria de Resposta ao Item (Calidad evaluativa de la prueba de Desarrollo Motor Grueso 2: Una investigación basada en la Teoría de Respuesta al Ítem)

“…Neste ponto, a teoria de resposta ao item (TRI) pode ser utilizada de forma a complementar as investigações, analisando cada tarefa motora que compõe o instrumento, elucidando a dificuldade e capacidade discriminatória de cada tarefa em questão (Pasquali & Primi, 2003). Exemplificando o uso da TRI em testes de competência motora, Magistro et al, (2020) constataram uma forte validade de construto e confiabilidade do TGMD-3 para medir as habilidades motoras grossas em crianças de diferentes grupos de gênero e idade e Bardid et al, (2019) concluíram que a TRI pode fornecer uma abordagem estatística útil para examinar a estrutura de competência motora proposta no Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2).…”