Effect of biological maturation on gross motor coordination in boys: a mediation analysis

Abstract

Introduction: The literature emphasizes the importance of acquiring good motor coordination in the early years of life and its relationship with physical fitness and physical activity during adolescence and adulthood. Objective: To analyze the effect of biological maturation on the motor coordination in boys. Method: The sample was composed by 203 boys between 11 and 14 years old. Height, body mass, sitting height, waist circumference (WC) and skinfolds were measured. Somatic maturation (SM) was assessed by maturity offset (estimated age at peak height velocity). The gross motor coordination was evaluated by Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK) battery. Results: The SM exerted an effect on the walking backward on balance beams (WB) mediated by the WC. Conclusion: The results showed that the performance of boys in the WB was negatively influenced by the greater volume of fat in the trunk related to a more advanced state of SM.

Biocultural correlates of gross motor coordination in prepubescent children: A cross‐sectional study

“…In longitudinal studies that analyzed the same relationship in boys and girls aged 6–9 years, an inverse association was identified between BMI values and performance on motor coordination tests, a result that contributes to the understanding of why normoponderal children tend to be better coordinated than heavier children in tasks involving GMC (Coppens et al, 2019; Henrique et al, 2018). More recently, in a study conducted with young males aged 11–14 years, it was seen that a greater accumulation of fat in the trunk tends to impair the performance of boys in KTK (Santos et al, 2020). In the same sense, in a longitudinal study conducted with Chilean children aged 5–10 years, it was confirmed that children with overweight or obesity had worst gross motor skills in relation to their normal‐weight peers and a tendency to present also worst fine motor skills (Cheng et al, 2016).…”

“…In this sense, some studies developed in the pediatric population have confirmed the relationship between MC and adiposity, regardless of the variable chosen to represent it, such as, for example, waist circumference and fat mass (Luz et al, 2016) and the sum of skinfolds (Henrique et al, 2018). Overall, the results show that the accumulation of body fat, specifically in the trunk region, is related to worse performances in MC tests (Luz et al, 2016; Santos et al, 2020).…”

“…MC is essential to physical activity engagement and to maintain healthy weight status in children (Stodden et al, 2008), as well is related to performance in sports participation (Henrique et al, 2016). Furthermore, from the hypothetical model developed by Stodden et al (2008), which establishes relationships between MC (perceived and actual), physical fitness, physical activity, and weight status in children and adolescents, several studies have associated MC with components of health related physical fitness (Cattuzzo et al, 2016), with weight status indicators (Henrique et al, 2018; Luz et al, 2016; Luz et al, 2018; Santos et al, 2020), with socioeconomic factors (Goodway et al, 2010), cognitive and psychological factors (Barnett et al, 2011), cultural and social factors (Tsapakidou et al, 2014), and environmental factors (Barnett et al, 2013). Such studies have confirmed that MC has strong implications for outcomes related to the health of children and adolescents, especially regarding weight status (Barnett et al, 2022; Robinson et al, 2015).…”

“…As well established, the maturational process is linked to various physical and bodily changes (Malina et al, 2004). However, differences in timing and tempo in the maturation of boys and girls can directly affect the MC performance of children and adolescents, making it plausible to understand the better performance of boys at more advanced ages (Santos et al, 2020). Therefore, knowing the factors associated with the achievement of better MC levels at prepubertal ages, becomes fundamental for the implementation of preventive strategies even in childhood (Henrique et al, 2018).…”