Are There Differences in Motor Coordination Among Spanish Primary School Students?

Area of Science:

• Pediatric motor development
• Childhood physical education
• Sports science

Background:

• Motor coordination is crucial for childhood development.
• Age, sex, and sports participation significantly influence motor skills.
• Limited research jointly analyzes these factors in primary school children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the impact of age, sex, and sports practice on various motor skills in primary schoolchildren.
• To investigate locomotor coordination (LC), visuomotor coordination (VC), foot object control coordination (FOCC), hand object control coordination (HOCC), and global motor coordination (GMC).

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 3JS test to assess motor coordination in 663 primary schoolchildren.
• Employed multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) to examine differences based on age, sex, and sports practice.
• Included BMI category as a covariate to control for confounding factors.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in motor skills were found across age groups, sexes, and levels of sports participation.
• Age positively correlated with all assessed motor skills (LC, VC, FOCC, HOCC, GMC).
• Boys generally scored higher than girls in VC, FOCC, HOCC, and GMC; sports participants outperformed non-participants in LC, VC, HOCC, and GMC.

Conclusions:

• Locomotor coordination in primary education is influenced by the interplay of age, sex, and sports practice.
• Motor skills development is positively associated with increasing age, male sex, and regular sports engagement.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering these factors for optimizing children's motor development programs.