Associations Among Elementary Children's Motor Skills, Fitness and Physical Activity

Background/Purpose: The reciprocal effects between physical activity (PA) and health-related physical fitness has been evident (Stong et al., 2005). For example, studies have consistently shown a graded and negative relationship between BMI and PA among children (Davy et al., 2004).  The development of motor skills (MS) has also been proposed to be a casual determinant in promoting fitness and PA, as learning to move is a necessary skill underlying future PA (Stodden et al., 2008). However, most empirical studies only focused on children’s BMI but not percent of body fat (%BF) with other outcomes. Few studies have examined children’s associations among MS, fitness, PA and %BF. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the interactive relations among elementary school children’s MS, fitness, PA and %BF.

Method: A total of 261 second and third grade children (134 girls; M_age=8.27, SD=.70) were recruited from two suburban elementary schools in Fall 2012. Participants’ %BF was determined by skinfolds. Their 5-day PA levels were assessed by ActiGraph accelerometers, and children’s time in moderate-to-vigorous PA was used as outcome variable. Participants’ fitness was assessed through FITNESSGRAM (PACER, curl-up, and push-up). Additionally, children’s MS was measured via product-oriented instruments (kick, throw, jump and run). All outcome variables were converted into stardardized T scores. The means of fitness and MS were then calculated from their respective components.

Analysis/Results: Simple correlations indicated children’s MS, fitness and PA were significantly and positively related to one another (r=.18 to .54) whereas %BF was negatively associated with MS, fitness and PA (r=-.19 to -.36). Multiple regression analyses yielded fitness (β =-.33) and PA (β=-.20) emerged as significantly negative predictors for %BF, and explained 16.5% of the variance. Fitness was the only positive predictor for MS (β =.54), accouting for 29% of the variance. Additionally, MS (β=.49) positively predicted while %BF (β=-.27)  negatively predicted fitness, explaining 35.9% of the variance. Finally, fitness (β=.14) positively predicted whereas %BF (β=-.22)  negatively predicted PA, and accounted for 9% of the variance.

Conclusions: The findings reveal that promoting PA and fitness is associated with the prevention or attenuation of weight gain among children. Children’s PA and fitness mutually and positively affected each other; and their MS had interactive positive effects with fitness. The findings have promising and practical implications for educators and health professionals.