Social inhibition and motor skill performance in first, third and fifth grade children

A systematic literature search over a period of 7 years yielded 28 articles about social inhibition with few of them addressing the relationship between social and motor functioning. Two sets of empirical data are reported. Firstly, a replication of the study performed by Zimmer in 1981 on the relationship between social inhibition and motor skill performance has been carried out with first, third and fifth grade children. Contrary to Zimmer's (1981) earlier findings with pre-school children, no relationship was found between motor skills test and social inhibition at any of the three age levels studied. Secondly, a group of children who attended extra physical education classes because of delay in motor performance (called "motoric remedial teaching") was found to score significantly lower on the motor skills test and higher on the social inhibition scale than a matched group of classmates. These findings indicate that although social inhibition appears not to be related to motor skill performance in the normal population, a significant relationship is present in a special sample of motorically delayed children.