Relationships Between Motor Competence and Physical Activity Change Across Childhood

Background/Purpose: Motor competence has been identified as a potential mechanism driving physical activity (PA) behaviors across developmental time. In 2008, a conceptual model (Stodden et al., 2008) proposed the relationship between motor skill competence (MSC) and PA strengthened across developmental time with this relationship mediated by perceptions of motor competence (PMC) and health-related fitness (HRF). Recent research evidence suggests initial support for the proposed relationships but to date no study has systematically evaluated the relationships among these variables across childhood. The purpose of this study was to systematically investigate the developmental relationship of MSC to PA, HRF and PMC from early childhood to late childhood. We hypothesized strength of relationships among variables within the model would become stronger from early, to middle to later childhood.

Method: A 3 (age) × 2 (gender) cross-sectional design examined relationships among MSC, PA, PMC, and HRF across early, middle and late childhood. A total of 419 children (49% boys, 51% girls) ages 4-5 (early), 7-8 (middle), and 10-11 (late) years were tested on 12 motor skills using a variety of product and process measures. PA was investigated by 5-day accelerometry, HRF via the Fitnessgram, and PMC via Harter’s age appropriate scales.

Analysis/Results: Structural equation models evaluated three proposed models (1=MSC»PA, 2=MSC»PMC»PA, 3=MSC»PMC»HRF»PA) among latent variable constructs within the overall conceptual model using four different model fit indices (RMSEA, CFI, SRMR, GFI) for each of the three age groups. Overall, the structure coefficients among MSC, PA, PMC and HRF strengthened across the 3 age groups and SEM global fit indices were acceptable. In early childhood, SEM models showed there was a weak relationship among the variables. By late childhood, SEM models supported the hypothesis that relationship strengths among variables within the model became stronger from early, to middle to later childhood.

Conclusions: The results support the notion proposed by Stodden et al. (2008) that there is a developmental trajectory to the relationships among MSC, PA, PMC, and HRF from early to late childhood. These findings have significance suggesting that the development of MSC in the early years is important to engaging in PA across childhood. Also PMC and HRF mediate this relationship. These findings have implications for the development of PA interventions across childhood. This cross sectional study provides support for future, longitudinal studies examining how the relationships among the developmental trajectories of MSC, PA, PMC, and HRF change.