Motor profile of Portuguese preschool children on the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-2: A cross-cultural study Linda Saraiva a,b,d, *, Luı ´s P. Rodrigues c,e,1 , Rita Cordovil a,d,2 , Joa ˜o Barreiros a,d,2 a Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade Te ´cnica de Lisboa, Cruz Quebrada, Portugal b Escola Superior de Educac ¸a ˜o do Instituto Polite ´cnico de Viana do Castelo, Portugal c Escola Superior de Desporto e Lazer do Instituto Polite ´cnico de Viana do Castelo, Melgac ¸o, Portugal d Centro Interdisciplinar para o Estudo da Performance Humana (CIPER/FMH-UTL), Portugal e Centro de Investigac ¸a˜o em Sau ´de, Desporto e Desenvolvimento Humano (CIDESD), Portugal 1. Introduction It is well recognized that development and learning of fine and gross motor skills during early childhood is of paramount relevance for child’s overall development (Piek, Hands, & Licari, 2012). Mastery of these motor skills represents an important prerequisite for activities of daily living (e.g., dressing, writing, cutting, playing) (Liberman, Ratzon, & Bart, 2013; Summers, Larkin, & Dewey, 2008), as well as for participation in many types of physical activity during the school-age and throughout the lifespan (Barnett, Beurden, Morgan, Brooks, & Beard, 2009; Cairney, Kwan, Hay, & Faught, 2012; Magalha ˜es, Cardoso, & Missiuna, 2011; Okely, Booth, & Patterson, 2001). On this issue, recent systematic reviews show that motor competence is linked with physical activity and fitness outcomes (Lubans, Morgan, Cliff, Barnett, & Okely, 2010; Rivilis et al., 2011). Children with low motor competence are generally less physically active and have an increased risk for obesity and cardiorespiratory disease. Although the Research in Developmental Disabilities 34 (2013) 1966–1973 ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 31 December 2012 Received in revised form 6 March 2013 Accepted 6 March 2013 Available online Keywords: Motor assessment Motor performance PDMS-2 Preschool children Cross-cultural ABSTRACT This study was designed to examine the cultural sensitivity of the PDMS-2 for Portuguese preschool children aged 36–71 months. A total of 540 children (255 males and 285 females) from 15 public preschools of Viana do Castelo, Portugal, were assessed. Age and gender effects in motor performance were examined. Results indicated that PDMS-2 is valid instrument to differentiate Portuguese age groups. Girls presented higher scores than boys in the Grasping and Visuo-motor integration subtests and lower scores in the Object Manipulation subtest. Portuguese preschoolers performed above US norms on Grasping, Visual-motor integration, and Stationary subtests, and bellow on Locomotion and Object Manipulation subtests. Overall, Portuguese children showed better results on the Fine Motor Quotient comparing to the Gross Motor Quotient. These results underline different motor development profiles between Portuguese and American children. ß 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author at: Escola Superior de Educac ¸a ˜o do Instituto Polite ´ cnico de Viana do Castelo, Avenida Capita ˜o Gaspar de Castro, Apartado 513, 4901-908 Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Tel.: +351 258806200. E-mail addresses: lindasaraiva@ese.ipvc.pt, lindambsaraiva@gmail.com (L. Saraiva), lprodrigues@esdl.ipvc.pt (L.P. Rodrigues), ritacordovil@fmh.utl.pt (R. Cordovil), jbarreiros@fmh.utl.pt (J. Barreiros). 1 Tel.: +351 258 809 678. 2 Tel.: +351 21 4149249. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Research in Developmental Disabilities 0891-4222/$ – see front matter ß 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2013.03.010