Is It Possible to Reduce the Relative Age Effect through an Intervention on Motor Competence in Preschool Children?

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out whether a short 6-week intervention on motor competence can reduce the Relative Age Effect (RAE) of preschool children born in the first quarter, compared to those born in the fourth quarter of the same year. Seventy-six preschool children (5.20 ± 0.54 years) from Lugo (Spain) participated. A quasi-experimental pre-post-test design was used with an intervention group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 44). The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) was used to collect data before and after the intervention. The data show that, before the intervention, there are significant differences between the control and the intervention group in favor of the former (born in the first quarter of the year) in manual dexterity (p = 0.011), balance (p = 0.002), total test score (p = 0.008), and total percentile score (p = 0.010). After the application of the specific intervention, statistically significant differences were found in aiming and catching (p < 0.001), balance (p = 0.022), total test score (p = 0.001), and total percentile score (p < 0.001) in favor of the intervention group (born in the last quarter of the year). The results obtained suggest that the application of a specific intervention on MC could positively influence the improvement of MC in preschool children (boys and girls) and reduce the differences produced by the RAE.

Early Environmental and Biological Influences on Preschool Motor Skills: Implications for Early Childhood Care and Education

“…Regarding gross motor skills, some studies have found that boys outperform girls (Bolger et al, 2018(Bolger et al, , 2020Wang et al, 2020), while other studies have suggested that girls outperform boys (Matarma et al, 2020) and others have found no differences between both sexes (Peyre et al, 2019;Martínez-Moreno et al, 2020). In terms of fine motor skills, girls have been found to have better performance than boys (Kokstejn et al, 2017;Peyre et al, 2019;Mecías-Calvo et al, 2021), although other studies have suggested that fine motor skills are very similar between both sexes (Martínez-Moreno et al, 2020).…”

“…Numerous studies have suggested differences in the motor skills of boys and girls (Kokstejn et al, 2017;Matarma et al, 2020;Mecías-Calvo et al, 2021). These differences have been primarily explained by the different stereotyped activities, sporting or other, that are carried out by the different sexes, and not by differences in their physical characteristics (body type, body composition, strength, and limb length), since, before puberty, these characteristics are quite similar in both boys and girls (Bolger et al, 2020;Matarma et al, 2020).…”

“…Some studies have suggested that locomotor skills are higher in girls (Bolger et al, 2018(Bolger et al, , 2020Wang et al, 2020), while other works claim that they are higher in boys (Robinson, 2010); and other studies have failed to detect any significant differences between both sexes (Bakhtiar, 2014;Foulkes et al, 2015;Barnett et al, 2016;Bolger et al, 2018Bolger et al, , 2020. As for balance skills, some studies have shown that these skills are higher in girls (Venetsanou and Kambas, 2016;Kokstejn et al, 2017;Mecías-Calvo et al, 2021) while others indicate that they are similar for both sexes (Singh et al, 2015;Barnett et al, 2016). As for control object skills, some studies show higher levels in boys (Foulkes et al, 2015;Barnett et al, 2016;Venetsanou and Kambas, 2016;Kokstejn et al, 2017;Bolger et al, 2018Bolger et al, , 2020Mecías-Calvo et al, 2021) while others find similar levels between both sexes (LeGear et al, 2012;Bakhtiar, 2014).…”

“…As for balance skills, some studies have shown that these skills are higher in girls (Venetsanou and Kambas, 2016;Kokstejn et al, 2017;Mecías-Calvo et al, 2021) while others indicate that they are similar for both sexes (Singh et al, 2015;Barnett et al, 2016). As for control object skills, some studies show higher levels in boys (Foulkes et al, 2015;Barnett et al, 2016;Venetsanou and Kambas, 2016;Kokstejn et al, 2017;Bolger et al, 2018Bolger et al, , 2020Mecías-Calvo et al, 2021) while others find similar levels between both sexes (LeGear et al, 2012;Bakhtiar, 2014). We are unaware of studies that have focused on the analysis of potential differences based on sex for the distinct specific preschool fine motor skills.…”

“…The size of the RAE is inversely correlated with age, such that the RAE is more prominent in early grades (Aune et al, 2018). Some studies have found that even as early as in Early Childhood Education, children born at the beginning of the year displayed higher levels of gross and fine motor skills than their peers with later birthdays (Martínez-Moreno et al, 2020;Mecías-Calvo et al, 2021;Navarro-Patón et al, 2021). This appears to be due not only to their nervous and muscular system having matured for a longer period of time, but also to their increased opportunities for motor practices, experiences, and feedback; issues that may help to refine their motor skills (Bolger et al, 2020;Cupeiro et al, 2020).…”