A longitudinal study of gross motor coordination and weight status in children

Abstract

Objective: This longitudinal study investigated the interrelationship between children's weight status and level of gross motor coordination over time, taking baseline physical activity (PA) into account as a possible mediator. Methods: Baseline measurements were collected in 2517 children (5-13 years, 52.8% boys), including (1) body height and weight to calculate body mass index (BMI) z-scores, (2) gross motor coordination using the K€ orperkoordinationstest f€ ur Kinder (KTK), (3) total PA estimated by a questionnaire. At follow-up, 754 participants (7-13 years, 50.8% boys) underwent anthropometric and KTK assessments again. Two hypothesized partial mediation models (i.e., KTK $ PA $ BMI z-score) were examined by multiple linear mixed models. Results: A lower performance on the KTK at baseline significantly predicted an increase in BMI z-score (B 5 20.003, P 5 0.027). Conversely, a higher baseline BMI z-score also predicted a decrease in KTK performance (B 5 21.792, P < 0.001). Since total PA at baseline was not significantly related to initial KTK performance (B 5 1.628, P 5 0.134) nor BMI z-score (B 5 25.312, P 5 0.130), its mediating effect was not further explored. Conclusions: Our results strongly suggest that children's weight status negatively influences future level of gross motor coordination, and vice versa. Prevention and intervention initiatives should consider this reciprocal causal relationship across developmental time.

Developmental and physical-fitness associations with gross motor coordination problems in Peruvian children

“…Some reports to date have shown negative associations between BMI and GMC (Antunes et al, 2015;D'Hondt et al, 2011;Graf et al, 2004;Lopes, Stodden, Bianchi, Maia, & Rodrigues, 2012;Martins et al, 2010). A recent longitudinal study showed that GMC developmental levels were strongly related to children's weight status, attributed to BMI, per se, a negative role in predicting motor competence (D'Hondt et al, 2014). Tsiotra, Nevill, Lane, and Koutedakis (2009) showed that children with GMC disorders tend to be less engaged in general physical activities and suggested that this may be partly attributable to their higher BMI since it directly affects performance in body-mass-dependent activities.…”

Physical fitness of primary school children in the reflection of different levels of gross motor coordination

“…This reciprocal relation is probably influenced by physical activity, physical fitness, leading to a variety of individual developmental trajectories (Rodrigues, Leitão, & Lopes, 2013). However, mechanisms of these relations and effects are still incompletely understood (D'Hondt et al, 2014;Lopes et al, 2012).…”

Relations between anthropometric parameters and motor skills of the preadolescent female students

“…Najvaţnija funkcija motoričkih umeća kod učenica, jeste razvoj morfoloških i motoričkih dimenzija učenica, koje treba transformisati ka unapred definisanom cilju (Bryant et al, 2013). Prema istzraţivanju (D'Hondt et al, 2014;Jaakkola et al, 2015), tokom najmlađeg školskog uzrasta, neophodno je da roditelji obrate naročitu paţnju na usvajanje motoričkih znanja kod svoje dece. Takođe, pri programiranju nastavnog procesa fizičkog vaspitanja, učenicima se moraju obezbediti povoljni uslovi za formiranje i usavršavanje motoričkih umeća (Григорьевич & Моисеевна, 2011).…”

“…Tačno poznavanje sklopa motoričkih operatora omogućava najpogodnije planiranje, programiranje i ostvarivanje procesa fizičkog veţbanja i postizanje najboljih efekata rada (Franjko et al, 2013). Dobijeni empirijski nalazi u ovoj studiji upućenost u sklop interakcija antropometrijskih obeleţja i motoričkih znanja učenica (Bryant et al, 2013;D'Hondt et al, 2014;Сафронов, 2013;Franjko et al, 2013). Zato se navedeni nalazi neposredno mogu primeniti u nastavi fizičkog vaspitanja kao temelj u objašnjenju karakterističnih modela pojedinih motoričkih struktura, koje su relevantan faktor optimalnog planiranja i programiranja i procesa ocenjivanja učenica.…”

“…Najvaţnija funkcija motoričkih umeća kod ţenskog pola u ovo doba jeste razvoj njihovih morfoloških i motoričkih dimenzija, koje treba transformisati prema unapred definisanom cilju. Istraţivački nalazi (D'Hondt et al, 2014;Jaakkola et al, 2015) tokom najmlađeg školskog uzrasta, ukazuju na to da roditelji obrate naročitu paţnju na sistem motoričkih umeća svoje dece.…”