Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 19, 2025

Quantified Assessment of Infant's Gross Motor Abilities Using a Multisensor Wearable
09:24

Quantified Assessment of Infant's Gross Motor Abilities Using a Multisensor Wearable

Published on: May 17, 2024

1.4K

Do Gender and BMI Affect the Motor Skills of Five-Year-Old Preschoolers Differently?

Marcos Mecías-Calvo1, Fernando Carregal-San Emeterio2, Rubén Navarro-Patón1

  • 1Facultad de Formación del Profesorado, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 27001 Lugo, Spain.

Children (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 27, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Motor competence (MC) varies by gender and BMI in preschoolers. Girls excel in manual dexterity and balance, while boys are better at aiming and catching. Overweight boys show higher MC scores.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Motor Development
  • Childhood Obesity

Background:

  • Weight gain poses significant health risks.
  • Motor competence (MC) in children can mitigate health issues.
  • Physical activity participation is crucial for children's health.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate gender and BMI impact on children's motor competence.
  • Analyze differences in manual dexterity, aiming/catching, and balance.
  • Examine total motor competence percentile variations.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the MABC-2 battery for assessment.
  • Sample included 368 preschool children (5.69 ± 0.28 years).
  • 54.9% of the sample were girls.

Main Results:

  • Boys and girls differed significantly in MC components.
  • Girls excelled in manual dexterity (p < 0.001) and balance (p = 0.035).
  • Boys scored higher in aiming and catching (p = 0.002).
  • Overweight children had higher balance and total MC percentiles.
  • Significant gender*BMI interactions were found for manual dexterity and total MC percentile.

Conclusions:

  • Notable gender differences exist in total MC percentile, balance, and manual dexterity.
  • Girls outperformed boys in most MC aspects except aiming and catching.
  • Overweight/obese boys achieved higher balance and total MC scores.
Abstract

Keywords:
MABC-2aiming and catchingbalancechildrenmanual dexteritytotal percentile

More Related Videos

Investigating Motor Skill Learning Processes with a Robotic Manipulandum07:52

Investigating Motor Skill Learning Processes with a Robotic Manipulandum

Published on: February 12, 2017

8.7K
Measurements of Motor Function and Other Clinical Outcome Parameters in Ambulant Children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy09:18

Measurements of Motor Function and Other Clinical Outcome Parameters in Ambulant Children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Published on: January 12, 2019

10.3K

Related Concept Videos

Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development01:30

Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development

Social-emotional experiences and cultural influences play significant roles in shaping gender development. During middle childhood, from ages 6 to 11, peer groups become dominant in reinforcing gender norms. Children in this age group often align with same-gender peer groups, which actively encourage behaviors that conform to traditional gender roles. For instance, boys may be discouraged from engaging in activities perceived as feminine, reinforcing culturally dictated norms about masculinity...
25
Biological Influences on Intelligence01:30

Biological Influences on Intelligence

Intelligence is often thought to be linked to brain size, but the relationship is more complex than that. While brain size does correlate modestly with some abilities, like verbal skills, the connection is weaker for others, such as spatial reasoning. Other factors, like brain structure, also play crucial roles. For instance, despite Einstein's smaller-than-average brain, his parietal cortex, which is involved in spatial reasoning, was 15% wider, suggesting that neural density might matter...
84