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Factors associated with motor performance among overweight and nonoverweight Tyrolean primary school children
Gerhard Ruedl1, Klaus Greier2, Werner Kirschner3
1Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Fürstenweg 185, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria. gerhard.ruedl@uibk.ac.at.
Insights
Increased physical education lessons significantly improve children's motor performance, especially for overweight youth. Daily physical education is recommended to enhance motor skills in primary school children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Sports Science
- Child Development
Background:
- Childhood overweight and obesity are linked to motor skill deficits.
- Motor performance is influenced by modifiable factors like weight and physical activity, and non-modifiable factors such as sex and age.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate factors associated with motor performance in overweight and non-overweight primary school children in Tyrol.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the German Motor Performance Test (DMT 6-18) to assess height, weight, and motor skills.
- Collected data on migration background, sports club participation, and electronic media use.
Main Results:
- Non-overweight children exhibited superior motor performance compared to their overweight peers.
- For the entire cohort, male sex, higher school grade, sports club participation, and more physical education were linked to better motor performance.
- Specific factors like school grade, sports participation, and physical education lessons positively impacted motor performance in both non-overweight and overweight children, with no migration background also benefiting overweight children.
Conclusions:
- Higher weekly physical education frequency is strongly associated with improved motor performance in both overweight and non-overweight children.
- Implementing daily physical education in primary schools is recommended to boost motor performance, particularly for overweight children.
Background:
The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity among children is often associated with motor deficits. Motor performance among children partly depends on modifiable factors, for example, weight status, electronic media use, sports club participation, and on nonmodifiable factors, for example, sex, age, migration background, or socio-economic status.
Aim:
To evaluate factors associated with motor performance among overweight and nonoverweight Tyrolean primary school children.
Methods:
Height, weight, and sport motor performance of primary school children were measured using the German motor performance test DMT 6-18. In addition, children were asked about migration background, sports club participation, and electronic media use in their room.
Results:
A total of 304 children (48.7% girls) with a mean age of 8.0 ± 1.2 years were tested. In total, 61 (20.1%) children were overweight or obese. Regarding motor performance, nonoverweight children showed significantly higher total z-scores (106.8 ± 5.7 vs. 102.4 ± 6.8). For the total cohort, results of the multiple linear regression analysis (R (2) = 0.20) revealed that factors male sex (β = 0.12), nonoverweight children (β = 0.28), higher school grade (β = 0.23), sports club participation (β = 0.18),and > 2 weekly lessons of physical education (β = 0.26) were associated with an increased motor performance. For nonoverweight children results of the multiple linear regression analysis (R (2) = 0.09) found that a higher school grade (β = 0.17), sports club participation (β = 0.16),and more than 2 weekly lessons of physical education (β = 0.22) were associated with an increased motor performance. For the overweight children, results of the multiple linear regression analysis (R (2) = 0 .43) showed that no migration background (β = 0.23), a higher school grade (β = 0.55), sports club participation (β = 0.33) and more than 2 weekly lessons of physical education (β = 0.48) were associated with an increased motor performance.
Conclusion:
Regarding modifiable factors, motor performance among overweight and nonoverweight children is strongly associated with a higher number of weekly lessons in physical education. Therefore, daily lessons in physical education are strongly recommended to improve motor performance especially among overweight primary school children.
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