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The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and motor skill performance.
Methods
Participants were 116 elementary students, consisting of 54 males and 62 females between the ages of 8 and 12 years old. Procedural collection of height and weight was done by following the State of Arkansas guidelines, which were developed by the Arkansas Department of Education, Arkansas Department of Health, and Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. Stadiometers with a carpenter's triangle used for a headpiece, a step stool, and the Frankfort horizontal plane of orientation were utilized for eye level height readings. Height was recorded to the nearest 1/8 inch. A Tanita HD-314 Scale was utilized to weigh the children. Prior to weighing each child, a standard weight was used to test the accuracy of the scales. The formula that was utilized for BMI is: lbs. / in2 * 703. Each subject was classified as, normal, at risk of overweight, and overweight, by using age and gender appropriate growth charts. As for assessment of motor skill performance, each participant was extracted from their physical education class and completed subtest 3 (manual dexterity), 4 (bilateral coordination), 6 (speed and agility) and 7 (upper limb coordination) of Bruininks-Oseretsky (BOT), version 2, while being assessed by a trained rater.
Analysis/Results
A correlation was used to determine if a relationship exist, between BMI and BOT-2 point scores. Furthermore, an ANOVA was utilized to identify specific significant relationships, with BMI classifications and BOT-2 point scores. For all analyses significance was determined at the .05 level of probability. The major findings in this study were 1) a relationship between BMI and manual dexterity, bilateral coordination, and upper limb coordination is nonexistent, 2) a relationship between BMI and speed and agility exist, r=-.34, p = .01., 3) BMI classifications has a significant effect on speed and agility, F (2,113) = 5.62, p. = .005, with the normal BMI group outperforming the overweight group.
Conclusions
Results of this study, suggest that children with elevated BMI, who are typically described by a sedentary lifestyle, are not lacking in fine motor skill performance. For this reason it would seem beneficial to utilize a child's fine motor skill prowess toward improving his/her physical activity level and ultimately provide an environment that will foster the improvement of gross motor skills.