Relationships between Socioeconomic Indicators and Motor Performance of Schoolchildren in Slovakia

Abstract

Physical inactivity is currently a significant problem in Western societies. Among the many factors that affect the amount of physical activity in children, socioeconomic status, the type of school, and the area where they live can play a major role in physical development. A total of 31,620 children (6.3 ± 0.53 years; 15,726 boys; 15,893 girls), representing 55.6 % of the entire Slovak population of first graders, participated in eight motor performance (MP) tests, the results of which were correlated with somatic parameters (body height, body weight, and body mass index (BMI)) and socioeconomic indicators (SEIs) within the children’s respective territorial regions. The largest correlations were observed between MP and unemployment rate (r = −0.802) and between MP and economically active population with primary education (r = −0.807). Other correlations between MP and SEIs were also found at the level of self-governing regions (r = 0.995) and districts (r = 0.551). SEIs and MP were strongly correlated, indicating that children who grow up in better socioeconomic environments display greater MP. Therefore, national and local governments should provide tangible and intangible resources to enable the proper development of children’s MP.

Factors that Influence the Acquisition of Motor Skills in Infants

“…The negative correlations between income and perceived socio-economic status and the scores on the ASQ-3 do not conform to predictions based on previous research (Ozal et al, 2020;Peric et al, 2021;Syrengelas et al, 2014). Environmental influences, such as SES, have been shown to influence infants' early neurodevelopment.…”

“…The authors attribute this finding to the cost of engaging in specific physical activities, including the cost of equipment, transportation, and training camps. Children with families who have access to more modes of physical activity and who encourage movement tend to demonstrate more advanced motor performance (Peric et al, 2021). Due to the homogeneous sample in the current study and the age at which parents/caregivers completed the ASQ-3 for their children, the pervasive differences identified by Peric et al (2021) were unlikely to be observed.…”

“…Further, the lack of diversity may be one reason why we found negative correlations between perceived SES and ASQ-3 scores in this study. The expectation based on previous studies would be that any significant correlation would be a positive correlation between parent/caregiver education, income, perceived SES and the infants' developmental status (Fink et al, 2019;Ozal et al, 2020;Peric et al, 2021;Syrengelas et al, 2014)…”

“…As children age, the differences compound. A study by Peric et al (2021) reported that the economic status of the family has a large effect on all aspects of motor performance in 6-year-old children. The authors attribute this finding to the cost of engaging in specific physical activities, including the cost of equipment, transportation, and training camps.…”

“…For example, sex differences are uncommon in early development, however researchers have suggested differential exposure to hormones in utero could lead to early differences in fine and gross motor development (Thomason et al, 2018). Prior research has generally shown a positive relationship between socio-economic status and developmental outcomes, though most research has focused on older infants and children (e.g., Peric et al, 2021). However, some researchers have also reported advanced development in infants from low income countries (e.g., Fink et al, 2019).…”