Children's Physical Activity Levels in Interactive Dance Across Skill Levels

Background/Purpose: Interactive dance games have been considered an innovative and effective solution to promote children's physical activity (PA) participation. However, no known studies have investigated PA levels in interactive dance between high and low skilled children. This study aimed at examining children's PA Levels in Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) across different motor skill levels in DDR.

Methods: Participants were 123 first through sixth grade urban children who participated in a DDR-based after-school program. Participants' motor skill levels (novice, beginner, intermediate, advanced) were assessed by the DDR system for their first DDR dance. Their PA levels for three DDR sessions were measured via NL-1000 piezoelectric pedometer and reported as steps per minute (SPM).

Analysis/Results: Over 73% of children were identified at the intermediate (n=38) and advanced (n=52) motor skill levels; and their PA levels in DDR (SPM_intermediate=54.76; SPM_advanced=62.64) were higher than those of novice children (SPM=51.81) and beginner children (SPM =47.48). One-way ANCOVA with age and gender as covariates revealed a significant main effect for skill level (F(3, 197)=2.91, p=.04, η²=.07). Follow-up tests indicated advanced children displayed significantly higher SPM than novice children (p < .05) and beginner children (p < .01). No other significant differences were found.   

Conclusions: Children with advanced motor skills in DDR demonstrated significantly higher PA levels than novice and beginner children when playing DDR.  This finding suggests that higher motor skill levels would result in higher levels of physical activity while participating in interactive dance games. Strategies to improve children's DDR skills will be discussed.