Socioecological correlates of perceived motor competence in 5- to 7-year-old Finnish children
Niemistö , D., Barnett, L., Cantell, M., Finni Juutinen, T., Korhonen, E., & Sääkslahti, A. (2019). Socioecological correlates of perceived motor competence in 5- to 7-year-old Finnish children. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 29 (5), 753-765. doi:10.1111/sms.13389
Authors
Date
2019Copyright
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons A/S.
We investigated child, family and environmental factors associated with young children’s perception
s
of locomotor (LM) and object control (OC) skills. The participants comprised 472 children (6.2
2 ±
0.63) and their parents. The children were assessed for their
perception of motor competence in LM
and OC skills
(using the
pictorial
scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence for
young
children),
and actual motor competence
(Test of Gross Motor Development
3rd edition and
Körperkoordinationstest Für Kinder). Anthropometrics were calculated using the children’s body
mass index standard deviation scores. A parent questionnaire included questions about child factors
(sex, child’s independent walking age, time spent sedentary and outdoors, participation in organi
sed
sport activities and access to electronic devices), family factors (parent educational level, physical
activity frequency and sedentary behavio
u
r) and environmental factors
(access to
sport facilities).
Variance analysis sought to identify age
-related differences
, and a linear regression model examine
d
correlates of children’s perception of LM and OC skills
.
T
h
e children’s movement skill perception
s
were found to be generally high. Four factors explained 5.7% of the variance in perception
s of LM
skill
s and 7.5% of the variance in perception
s of OC skill
s
.
Two factors, lower age and higher actual
motor competence, explained most of the children’s skill perceptions.
Access to electronic devices
(less) and BMI (higher)
were associated with perception
s of LM skills.
Participation in organi
sed
sport activities (higher) and
parental education (lower) were associated with perception
s of OC skills.
When promoting children’s physical activity and motor competence, perception
s of motor
competence are an important consideration.
...


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