BackgroundThe quantity and quality of studies in child and adolescent physical activity and sedentary behaviour have rapidly increased, but research directions are often pursued in a reactive and uncoordinated manner.AimTo arrive at an international consensus on research priorities in the area of child and adolescent physical activity and sedentary behaviour.MethodsTwo independent panels, each consisting of 12 experts, undertook three rounds of a Delphi methodology. The Delphi methodology required experts to anonymously answer questions put forward by the researchers with feedback provided between each round.ResultsThe primary outcome of the study was a ranked set of 29 research priorities that aimed to be applicable for the next 10 years. The top three ranked priorities were: developing effective and sustainable interventions to increase children’s physical activity long-term; policy and/or environmental change and their influence on children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour; and prospective, longitudinal studies of the independent effects of physical activity and sedentary behaviour on health.ConclusionsThese research priorities can help to guide decisions on future research directions.

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Until now, there has been no integrated study of the cognitive, motor and academic developments in children in the Arab world. In this study we investigated gender differences in those three areas in primary school-aged children in Oman and as well as the inter-relations between those three aspects of development. Ninety-five third graders completed four working memory tests, a mental rotation test and a motor test. Furthermore, the marks in math, science and Arabic language were registered. The result showed that there were small gender differences: Girls performed better in one of the working memory tests and boys in the coordination motor test. The study also showed that there were significant correlations between cognitive variables and academic performance, as well as two significant correlations between motor performance and marks in math and science. Marks in math correlated with the performances in the 20 m run and the coordination test, whereas the marks in science correlated with the ball-leg-wall test, the coordination test, and the endurance test. Regression analysis showed that all marks were predicted by the working memory and mental rotation performance as well as the motor ability. This means that academic achievement in Oman could be predicted by basic cognitive as well as motor abilities.

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