Perceived Motor Clumsiness: A Study of Young College Students

This study surveyed the probable incidence of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), a medical condition marked by poor motor coordination and clumsiness, in college-aged students.

A total of 4,014 individuals at Texas A&M University, aged 18-23 (40% males and 60% females), completed the Adolescents and Adults Coordination Questionnaire (AAC-Q) using Qualtrics, a web-based survey procedure.

Results indicated that about 7% of individuals fell into the category of ‘probable’ or ‘likely’ to have DCD. Although marginal, age differences were found to be significant with participants below 20 years old having more difficulty (greater perceived clumsiness) than those 20 years and older. In regard to gender, 5 of the 12 total items were statistically significant with females having a greater proportion of perceived clumsiness than males in 4 out of the 5 questions. That is, females indicated more difficulty with gross motor skills, such as learning to drive or to ride a bike, whereas males indicated more difficulty with fine motor tasks, such as handwriting, and completing tasks requiring fine detail. Interestingly, the 7% clumsiness level found here is similar to the well-documented level of 6% found in children; therefore, giving some credence to the likelihood that children may not ‘simply mature out of the condition.’ This was a preliminary study and future research needs to examine actual (rather than perceived level) of DCD.