How important is young children's actual and perceived movement skill competence to their physical activity?

• Published in: Journal of science and medicine in sport 2016-06, Vol.19 (6), p.488-492
• Main Authors: Slykerman, Sarah, Ridgers, Nicola D, Stevenson, Christopher, Barnett, Lisa M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age groups; Child; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Confidence intervals; Consent; Cross-Sectional Studies; Exercise - psychology; Female; Fundamental movement skill; Humans; Locomotor skill; Male; Motor Activity - physiology; Motor Skills - physiology; Object control skill; Perceptions; Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Physical self-perception; Schools; Self Concept; Sex Factors; Skills; Sports Medicine; Studies
• ISSN: 1440-2440; 1878-1861
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2015.07.002

Abstract Objectives To determine the associations between young children's actual and perceived object control and locomotor skills and physical activity and whether associations differ by sex. Design Cross sectional study. Methods A total of 136 children consented. Children had actual skill (Test of Gross Motor Development-2), perceived skill (Pictorial Scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence for Young Children), and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) (accelerometers) assessed. Independent t -tests assessed sex differences. A regression (with MVPA as the outcome) was performed with all predictor variables (i.e. Actual Object Control, Actual Locomotor, Perceived Object Control, and Perceived Locomotor). Model 2 also adjusted for age, sex, accelerometer wear time and whether the child was from an English speaking background. Interaction terms between the respective actual or perceived skill factor and sex were added to assess sex differences. Results Analyses were conducted on 109 children (59 boys, 50 girls; mean age = 6.5 years, SD = 1.0). Boys had higher actual and perceived object control skill and were more active by an average of 19 min per day. There were no sex differences in locomotor skills. There were no associations between skill factors and MVPA, except for girls, where locomotor skill was a significant predictor of MVPA ( B = 3.66, p = 0.016). Conclusions Actual rather than perceived skill competence was more important to MVPA in this sample. Locomotor skill competence may be more important than object control skill competence for girls as they may engage in types of physical activity that do not require object control mastery.