Extracurricular Physical Activities and the Condition of Being an Only Child as a Conditioning Factor in the Psychomotor Development of 5-Year-Old Children

Abstract

In early childhood education, there is a great interdependence among motor, affective, and cognitive development. A better understanding of psychomotor development and its variables by pediatricians and those who oversee educational tasks at this stage of development, such as teachers, psychologists, counselors, and parents themselves, can influence the design of educational intervention proposals. To that effect, the present study aims to analyze the influence of some family characteristics such as the condition of being an only child or having siblings and whether the child carries out extracurricular activities linked to physical activities and sports. To achieve this objective, a Checklist of Psychomotor Activities (CPA) assessment instrument was used based on the observation of a sample of 694 children aged 5 years who were enrolled in the second cycle of child education in the province of Albacete. The results show that those children who performed extracurricular activities related to physical activities and sports had a greater development of laterality and postural tonic control than those who did not attend this type of activities. At the same time, differences were found in the affective and relational levels and in the perceptual-motor aspects in favor of children who have siblings compared with children who are only children. There is no other research that addresses both issues in the same study, and this is a strength of the present study.

Teacher-Rated Executive Functions, Gender and Relative Age: Independent and Interactive Effects on Observed Fundamental Motor Skills in Kindergarteners

“…Although the literature indicates, in general terms, that the practice of extracurricular physical activities favors FMS ( Kokštejn et al, 2017 ), when the results obtained in different studies are analyzed in detail, it is found that not all FMS are benefited by this type of activity. Thus, for example, there are studies that show that in children as young as those that make up this sample, and also Spanish, only some motor components were benefited by these extracurricular activities ( Gil-Madrona et al, 2021 ; Honrubia-Montesinos et al, 2021 ). Further research is required to clarify what characteristics should have motor extracurricular experiences to enhance the different FMS.…”

Is Neighborhood Nature an Ecological Precursor of Parenting Practices, Infant-Parent Bonding, and Infant Socioemotional Function?

“…The social context in which the child is embedded might also shape the saliency patterns of the child, that is, the sensory data and experiences that the child will tend to pay attention to. Having a sibling, for instance, is speculated to stimulate more imitation-based learning whereas being an only child is thought to evoke more learning through independent exploration (Gil-Madrona et al, 2021). In extension, only children might be more likely to reap benefits of having access to natural features and environments than children with one or more siblings.…”

The Relationships between Sibling Characteristics and Motor Performance in 3- to 5-Year-Old Typically Developing Children

“…These findings indicate that the birth order position of a child is related to the amount of behavioral problems and that in turn, the amount of behavioral problems is related to the motor performance of a child. A previous study investigated the relationship between the presence of siblings on the one hand and motor skills and socio-emotional skills on the other hand [ 41 ]. This study reported that the presence of siblings was not related to motor skills, while children with siblings scored higher on social relations (i.e., being able to establish relationships, sharing with others, showing respect toward others, and showing both positive and negative emotions while playing with others) [ 41 ].…”

“…A previous study investigated the relationship between the presence of siblings on the one hand and motor skills and socio-emotional skills on the other hand [ 41 ]. This study reported that the presence of siblings was not related to motor skills, while children with siblings scored higher on social relations (i.e., being able to establish relationships, sharing with others, showing respect toward others, and showing both positive and negative emotions while playing with others) [ 41 ]. In other words, having siblings to play with during childhood might train a child in establishing social relationships with others and how to behave during these interactions.…”