Sex and age-level differences of walking time in preschool children on an obstacle frame

Abstract

BackgroundStepping over an obstacle is a kind of compound movement that makes walking more difficult, especially for preschool children. This study examines sex and age-level differences in walking time in preschool children on an obstacle frame.MethodsThe participants included 324 healthy preschool children: four-year-old boys (51) and girls (51), five-year-old boys (50) and girls (60), and six-year-old boys (62) and girls (50). A 5 cm- or 10 cm-high obstacle (depth 11.5 cm, width 23.5 cm) was set at the halfway point of a 200 cm × 10 cm walking course.ResultsThe participants walked to the end of the course and back as fast as possible under three conditions: no obstacle, low obstacle and high obstacle. Walking time showed age-level differences in all conditions, but there were no differences in sex. Age levels were divided into two groups, with one group within the first six months of their birthday, and the second group within the last six months of that year. Walking time for children in the first half of their fourth year was longer than that of the five- and six-year-old children. In addition, for children in the last half of their fourth year, walking time was longer than both sexes in the last half of their fifth and sixth years. The children in the latter half of their fifth year had a longer walking time in the high obstacle condition than those in the last half of their sixth year. In the four-year-old participants, walking time was shorter with no obstacles than with a high obstacle frame.ConclusionsIn the above data, obstacle course walking time does not show a gender difference, except that the four-year-old participants needed longer than the five- and six-year-old children. Setting the obstacle 10 cm high also produced a different walking time in the five- and six-year-old participants. The high obstacle step test (10 cm) best evaluated the dynamic balance of preschool children.

Systematic Review and Proposal of a Field-Based Physical Fitness-Test Battery in Preschool Children: The PREFIT Battery

“…Most of the reliability studies selected in this review were focused on balance (n = 12 [55 %] studies) [19,21,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. The tests used to assess balance were many and very heterogeneous, aiming mainly to assess static and dynamic balance.…”

Sex and Age-Level Differences in Preschool Children in Walking Times on a Course and on a Balance Beam with Obstacles

“…Aoki et al (2011) observed that no sex difference was found in the walking time on a balance beam in 5 and 6 year olds. Also, Kasuga et al (2012a) reported that no sex difference was found in 4-6 year olds in the walking time on the course. Demura et al (1994) examined the sex difference in 3-6 year olds in the walking time on a balance beam and line, and in the times for a series of one-legged hopping and hopping from stone to stone, and reported that a significant sex difference was found only in the time for the series one-legged hopping.…”

“…Hence, it is important to adequately evaluate the balance ability. Walking on a balance beam and on a line have often been used to evaluate the dynamic balance of preschool children (Demura, Nagasawa, & Kasuga,1994 ;Aoki, Demura, Kasuga, Shin, & Kawabata, 2011 ;Bürgi, Meyer, Granacher, Schindler, Marques-Vidal, Kriemler, & Puder, 2011;Kasuga, Demura, Aoki, Shin, Sugiura, & Uchida, 2012a;Kasuga, Demura, Aoki, Sato, Shin, & Kawabata, 2012b). However, it is possible that a developmental evaluation of dynamic balance by age may differ according to the type and the degree of difficulty of the tests.…”

“…However, it is possible that a developmental evaluation of dynamic balance by age may differ according to the type and the degree of difficulty of the tests. For example, according to Kasuga et al (2012a), the walking time on a course with obstacles showed a nonsignificant difference between 5-and 6-year-old children, but Aoki et al (2011) reported that the walking time on the balance beam was significantly longer in 5-year-old children than in 6-to 6.5-year-old children. In brief, the walking time for children older than 5 years may differ for walking on a course and on a balance beam.…”

“…From the above, a sex difference in achievement time may be found in difficult tasks, but not in easy tasks. In addition, Kasuga et al (2012a) reported that 4-year-old children are slower than 5-and 6-year-old children in walking on a course; however, Demura et al (1994) reported that there was no difference between 4-and 5-year-old boys in walking on a balance beam, and that 4-year-old girls were slower than 5-year-old girls. In short, it is assumed that the shortness of walking time differs between boys and girls by age.…”