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Godoy-Cumillaf A, Fuentes-Merino P, Giakoni-Ramírez F, Duclos-Bastías D, Bruneau-Chávez J, Vergara-Ampuero D, Merellano-Navarro E. Association between Gross Motor Competence and Physical Fitness in Chilean Children Aged 4 to 6 Years. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 11:561. [PMID: 38790556 PMCID: PMC11119627 DOI: 10.3390/children11050561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2024] [Revised: 04/25/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024]
Abstract
The preschool period is considered critical for the development of motor competence, but as far as we know, no studies have investigated the association between motor competence and physical fitness in Chilean children. The aim of this study was to analyse the association between gross motor competence and physical fitness, controlling for possible confounding factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 144 preschool children (56.25% girls) with an average age of 5.3 years (4 to 6 years) from the Araucanía region, Chile. Motor competence was measured using the Children's Movement Assessment Battery, 2nd Edition (MABC-2). Regarding physical fitness, the components of cardiorespiratory fitness, lower body muscle strength and speed/agility were evaluated using the Battery to Assess FITness in PREschool (PREFIT). Partial correlation models and analysis of variance (ANCOVA) were used to assess differences in physical fitness between motor competence categories, controlling for age and body mass index. The mean fitness scores for cardiorespiratory fitness, lower body muscle strength and speed/agility components were significantly higher in children with higher gross motor competence. In terms of effect size, large values were found for the lower body strength component in model 1 for boys and in model 2 for the total samples of girls and boys. The results of this study suggest that good levels of gross motor competence are associated with better physical fitness levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrés Godoy-Cumillaf
- Grupo de Investigación en Educación Física, Salud y Calidad de Vida (EFISAL), Facultad de Educación, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Temuco 4780000, Chile; (A.G.-C.); (P.F.-M.)
| | - Paola Fuentes-Merino
- Grupo de Investigación en Educación Física, Salud y Calidad de Vida (EFISAL), Facultad de Educación, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Temuco 4780000, Chile; (A.G.-C.); (P.F.-M.)
| | - Frano Giakoni-Ramírez
- Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Universidad Andres Bello, Las Condes, Santiago 7550000, Chile;
| | - Daniel Duclos-Bastías
- Escuela de Educación Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2340000, Chile;
- IGOID Research Group, Physical Activity and Sport Science Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 45071 Toledo, Spain
| | - José Bruneau-Chávez
- Departamento de Educación Física, Deportes y Recreación, Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile;
| | - Diego Vergara-Ampuero
- Escuela de Ciencias del Deporte y la Actividad Física, Facultad de Salud, Universidad Santo Tomás, Santiago 8370003, Chile;
| | - Eugenio Merellano-Navarro
- Department of Physical Activity Sciences, Faculty of Education Sciences, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca 3530000, Chile
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Martins C, Webster EK, Romo-Perez V, Duncan M, Lemos LF, Staiano A, Okely A, Magistro D, Carlevaro F, Bardid F, Magno F, Nobre G, Estevan I, Mota J, Ning K, Robinson LE, Lenoir M, Quan M, Valentini N, Dehkordi PS, Cross P, Jones R, S Henrique R, Salami S, Chen S, Diao Y, Bandeira PR, Barnett LM. Sex differences in 3- to 5-year-old children's motor competence: A pooled cross-sectional analysis of 6241 children. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2024; 34:e14651. [PMID: 38760918 DOI: 10.1111/sms.14651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/20/2024]
Abstract
There is some, albeit inconsistent, evidence supporting sex differences in preschoolers' motor competence (MC), with these observations not uniform when analyzed by age, and cultural groups. Thus, this study examined sex differences across ages in 3- to 5-year-old children's MC. A cross-country pooled sample of 6241 children aged 3-5 years (49.6% girls) was assessed for MC using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2nd/3rd edition, and children were categorized into groups of age in months. Multiple linear regression models and predictive margins were calculated to explore how sex and age in months affect scores of MC (i.e., locomotor and ball skills), with adjustments for country and BMI. The Chow's Test was used to test for the presence of a structural break in the data. Significant differences in favor of girls were seen at 57-59 and 66-68 months of age for locomotor skills; boys performed better in ball skills in all age periods, except for 42-44 and 45-47 months of age. The higher marginal effects were observed for the period between 45-47 and 48-50 months for locomotor skills (F = 30.21; and F = 25.90 for girls and boys, respectively), and ball skills (F = 19.01; and F = 42.11 for girls and boys, respectively). A significantly positive break point was seen at 45-47 months, highlighting the age interval where children's MC drastically improved. The identification of this breakpoint provides an evidence-based metric for when we might expect MC to rapidly increase, and an indicator of early delay when change does not occur at that age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clarice Martins
- Research Centre in Physical activity, Health and Leisure, and Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Department of Physical Education, Federal Universit` of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil
| | - Elizabeth K Webster
- Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Vicente Romo-Perez
- Faculty of Education and Sports Sciences, Universidad de Vigo, Vigo, Spain
| | - Michael Duncan
- Centre for Physical Activity, Sport and Exercise Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, UK
| | - Luís Filipe Lemos
- Research Centre in Physical activity, Health and Leisure, and Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Amanda Staiano
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Anthony Okely
- School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Daniele Magistro
- Department of Sport Science, School of Science & Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| | - Fabio Carlevaro
- Polo Universitario Asti Studi Superiori, Uni-Astiss, Asti, Italy
| | - Farid Bardid
- Strathclyde Institute of Education, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
| | - Francesca Magno
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Glauber Nobre
- Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Ceará, Ceará, Brazil
| | - Isaac Estevan
- Department of Teaching of Physical Education, Arts and Music, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
| | - Jorge Mota
- Research Centre in Physical activity, Health and Leisure, and Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Ke Ning
- School of Physical Education and Sport, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi´ An, China
| | - Leah E Robinson
- School of Kinesiology, University of Michigan, Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA
| | - Matthieu Lenoir
- Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Minghui Quan
- School of Kinesiology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
| | - Nadia Valentini
- School of Physical Education, Physiotherapy and Dance, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Parvaneh S Dehkordi
- Department of Motor Behaviours, Faculty of Sports Science, Alzahra University, Teeran, Iran
| | - Penny Cross
- School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Rachel Jones
- School of Education, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Rafael S Henrique
- Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
| | - Sedigheh Salami
- Department of Motor Behaviours, Faculty of Sports Science, Alzahra University, Teeran, Iran
| | - Sitong Chen
- Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Yucui Diao
- School of Sport, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China
| | - Paulo R Bandeira
- Department of Physical Education, Universidade Regional do Cariri, Crato, Brazil
| | - Lisa M Barnett
- Faculty of Health, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Zhang JY, Shen QQ, Wang DL, Hou JM, Xia T, Qiu S, Wang XY, Zhou SB, Yang WW, Heng SY, Lu CC, Cui L, Yin HC. Physical activity intervention promotes working memory and motor competence in preschool children. Front Public Health 2022; 10:984887. [PMID: 36225790 PMCID: PMC9549139 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.984887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective This study investigated the effects of 12 weeks of specifically designed physical activity intervention on working memory and motor competence in preschool children and explored the correlation between working memory changes and motor competence changes by the intervention. Methods Four classes of preschool children were grouped into an intervention group and a control group. Children in the intervention group received a 12-week physical activity intervention, while children in the control group followed their daily routine as usual. Before and after the intervention period, children were assessed with the 1-back task and Movement Assessment Battery for Children, second edition (MABC-2) to measure their working memory and motor competence, respectively. Results Regarding working memory, the accuracy on the 1-back task increased significantly in the intervention group relative to the control group. The intervention group demonstrated a greater decrease in response time from pre- to posttest than the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant. Regarding motor competence, children's manual dexterity, aiming and catching and total score increased significantly in the intervention group relative to the control group, while no significant difference in static and dynamic balance was observed between the two groups. Furthermore, the correlation results showed that changes in the efficacy and efficiency of working memory were positively related to changes in static and dynamic balance and the total score on the MABC-2. Conclusion These findings demonstrated that 12 weeks of specifically designed physical activity intervention could improve preschool children's efficacy of working memory as well as manual dexterity, aiming and catching and global motor competence. The improvement in the efficacy and efficiency of working memory was positively related to the improvement in static and dynamic balance and global motor competence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing-Yi Zhang
- College of P.E. and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Qi-Qi Shen
- College of P.E. and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Dong-Ling Wang
- College of P.E. and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Jin-Mei Hou
- College of P.E. and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Tong Xia
- College of P.E. and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Shou Qiu
- Branch School of Mingguang, Beijing Normal University Kindergarten, Beijing, China
| | - Xiao-Ye Wang
- Branch School of Mingguang, Beijing Normal University Kindergarten, Beijing, China
| | - Si-Bo Zhou
- Branch School of Mingguang, Beijing Normal University Kindergarten, Beijing, China
| | - Wen-Wen Yang
- Branch School of Mingguang, Beijing Normal University Kindergarten, Beijing, China
| | - Si-Yu Heng
- Branch School of Mingguang, Beijing Normal University Kindergarten, Beijing, China
| | - Can-Can Lu
- Branch School of Mingguang, Beijing Normal University Kindergarten, Beijing, China
| | - Lei Cui
- College of P.E. and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China,*Correspondence: Lei Cui
| | - Heng-Chan Yin
- College of P.E. and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China,Heng-Chan Yin
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