Manipulative Skill Competency and Physical Activity in Elementary School Students

Background/Purpose: Fundamental motor skills are building blocks for children to successfully participate in a variety of organized and non-organized sports and physical activitie. To better understand how motor skill competency contributes to participation in physical activity for boys and girls, this study examined relationships between levels of manipulative skill competency assessed with and participation in physical activity in school-aged children.

Method: 265 fifth-grade students voluntarily participated in this study. The students’ skill performance in four manipulative skills was assessed using reliable and valid PE Metrics Assessment Rubrics with process- and product-oriented criteria and a 0-4 rating scale by trained evaluators. The students’ daily physical activity was assessed using a 7-day daily physical activity (PA) log. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and univariate analyses, and multiple R-squared liner regression methods.

Analysis/Results: The results of regression models indicated that overall skill competency in four manipulative skills significantly contributed to weekly PA minutes for the total sample (R² = .076, F = 5.379, p < .01) and girls (R² = .16, F = 5.94 p < .01), but not for boys (R² = .05, F = 1.62, P > .05). Subsequently, the standardized regression coefficients (β) for the total sample and for boys indicated that none of the manipulative skills was a significant contributor to the weekly PA minutes. In contrast, girls’ competency in soccer skills was a significant predictor of weekly PA minutes (β = .23, t = 2.26, p < .05), but not other skills. Furthermore, An independent sample t-test revealed that boys in the Skill Competent group spent significant more minutes in weekly PA than their counterparts in the SI group (SC _mean = 539.87, SI _mean = 432.06, t = 2.08, df = 58.51, p < .05). Similarly, the results of t-test yielded a difference of the mean weekly PA minutes between the two groups (SC _mean = 538.36, SI _mean = 450.04, t = - 1.91, df = 121.97, p = .06) for girls. The results indicated that children who demonstrated manipulative skill competency tended to be more physically active.

Conclusions: Boys and girls who demonstrated manipulative skill competency were more physically active than their counterparts with physically incompetent in the manipulative skills. The overall manipulative skill competency was more significant predictor of girls’ physical activity, compared to boys. Improving manipulative skill competency is instrumental to increasing girls’ physical activity participation.