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Differences and Relationship between Body Composition and Motor Coordination in Children Aged 6-7 Years
Vladan Pelemiš1, Slobodan Pavlović2, Danimir Mandić1
1Faculty of Education, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Insights
Body composition impacts motor skills in preschool boys, but not girls. Girls showed better motor coordination scores overall, likely due to earlier maturation.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric physical development
- Childhood motor skills research
- Body composition analysis
Background:
- Investigating the interplay between physical characteristics and motor skills in young children.
- Examining sex-based disparities in body composition and motor coordination among preschoolers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the association between body composition and motor coordination in preschool children.
- To identify potential sex differences in these parameters within this age group.
Main Methods:
- Assessed body composition and motor coordination in 48 preschool children (23 boys, 25 girls).
- Utilized the Köperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK) for motor coordination evaluation.
Main Results:
- Significant links between body composition and motor coordination found in boys, but not girls.
- Specific body composition elements like height, muscle mass, fat, and water influenced single-leg and lateral jumps in boys.
- No significant influence of predictive variables on the overall KTK score was observed for either sex.
Conclusions:
- Morphological variables significantly predicted motor coordination only in preschool boys.
- Preschool girls demonstrated superior average KTK scores, attributed to their earlier maturation compared to boys.
Background:
The primary goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between body composition and motor coordination performance, and the secondary goal was to determine sex differences in body composition and motor coordination of preschool children.
Methods:
Forty-eight children (23 boys and 25 girls) underwent assessments for body composition and motor coordination using the Köperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK).
Results:
Linear regression analysis revealed significant associations between body composition and motor coordination in boys (p < 0.05) but not in girls. In boys, Body height (p = 0.01), Total muscle mass (p = 0.03), Total fat (p = 0.03), and Total water (p = 0.02) show statistically significant influence on single-leg jumps. Similar results were obtained for lateral jumps where there was a statistically significant influence of Body height (p = 0.01), Total muscle mass (p = 0.03), and Total water (p = 0.02). Interestingly, predictive variables showed no statistically significant influence on KTK overall score in boys (p = 0.42) nor in girls (p = 0.90).
Conclusions:
The predictive system of morphological variables demonstrated significance only among boys in this age group and sample. Girls outperformed boys due to early maturation, resulting in better average KTK scores.
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