Independent and Combined Effects of Biological Maturation and aerobic performance on the gross motor coordination in prepubertal girls

Abstract

The present study analyzed the effect of biological maturation on the performance in the test of gross motor coordination in girls, before and after having its effect controlled by body mass index (BMI) and aerobic performance. The sample was composed by 63 pre-pubertal girls (8.0-8.99 years). The girls who were less advanced in biological maturation presented lower body size and better physical performance in the tasks of walking backward on balance beams (t=2.706; p<0.01; d=0.70), moving sideways on boxes (t=2.128; p<0.05; d=0.48), hopping for height on one leg (t=2.076, p<0.05; d=0.54) and 20-m shuttle run (t=3.162; p <0.05; d=0.61). The maturation no longer influenced performance in the tasks of gross motor coordination when considering BMI and aerobic fitness.