Identifying actual and perceived motor competence based profiles among children

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Motor Learning
• Sports Science

Background:

• Motor competence (MC) is vital for children's physical activity (PA) engagement.
• Understanding profiles of actual MC and perceived MC (PMC) is needed to explore PA motivation.
• Previous research has not fully explored the interplay between actual MC, PMC, and PA motivation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop distinct motor competence (MC) profiles in children based on their actual and perceived abilities.
• To investigate differences in physical activity (PA) behavior and motivation towards PA among these profiles.
• To identify how actual MC and PMC contribute to children's motivation for physical activity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized K-means cluster analysis to create MC profiles from actual and perceived measures in 216 British children (7-10 years).
• Assessed actual MC using process-oriented and product-oriented measures, and PMC via a pictorial scale.
• Measured PA motivation with a validated questionnaire and PA levels objectively.

Main Results:

• Identified four distinct MC profiles based on actual-process MC and PMC.
• Found significant differences in motivation towards PA across profiles, particularly autonomous motivation.
• Children with high actual process MC and high PMC exhibited higher autonomous motivation compared to those with high actual process MC and low PMC.
• No significant differences in objective PA levels were observed between the identified profiles.

Conclusions:

• Enhancing the quality and execution of actual motor competence (AMC) and perceived motor competence (PMC) is essential for stimulating children's motivation towards physical activity (PA).
• Simultaneously maintaining both AMC and PMC may be imperative for fostering children's long-term engagement in PA.
• Targeting both skill execution and self-perception of ability is crucial for promoting lifelong physical activity habits.