Background: Understanding how or whether sedentary behavior affects motor competence in young children is important considering that children spend a lot of time sedentary. The aim of this study was to examine whether sedentary behavior predicts motor competence in young children. Methods: A longitudinal study with a total of 372 children aged 3.5…

The goal of this study was to expand knowledge on the longitudinal relationships between motor skill competence, physical activity, perceived motor competence, health-related fitness, and weight status and its age dependency in children between 6 and 11 years old. Participants were Dutch primary school children (N = 1,268 children, 49.4% boys and…

Physical literacy (PL) is highlighted as a construct that can positively impact physical activity (PA). Measurement methods and definitions for PL exist, but vary between research groups. This variation affects the ability to compare research findings. The purpose of this study was to assess the construct validity of PL in children. PL was…

Self-efficacy theory assumes that students' efficacy beliefs affect their performance through process variables, including behavior, cognition, and affection. The purpose of this study was to utilize self-efficacy theory as a theoretical framework to propose a conceptual model of a mediating relationship among perceived motor skill competence,…

Individuals with visual impairments (VI) trend toward lower motor competence when compared with peers without VI. Various forms of perception often affects motor competence. Thus, it is important to explore factors that influence forms of perception and their differential effects on motor competence for those with VI. Therefore, the purposes of…

Background: Children living in poverty often are exposed to situations that negatively affect various aspects of their development. So, it is important to propose interventional programs that minimize the negative effects of living in poverty on these children. Objective: To verify the impact of a mastery climate cognitive-motor skills…

There is a dearth of research in aquatic motor competency, a key requirement for primary physical education in order to become physically literate. This study proposes a new assessment protocol for aquatic motor competence and sets out to examine the validity of the Aquatic Movement Protocol (AMP) in children between 7 and 9 years of age. Testing…

Purpose: Developing physically literate individuals is a major goal of school physical education. To date, no research in the United States has examined physical literacy by simultaneously measuring multiple dimensions among young children. The purpose of this study was to examine students' current status of physical literacy in third grade.…

Background: The interest for young people's movement ability has increased. Literature shows that many factors, apart from movement ability, influence the development of and sustained interest in or taste for physical activity and the learning thereof. Purpose: This longitudinal study illustrates, through the lens of Bourdieu, whether and how…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between motor competence and BMI in Hispanic preschool children from low SES backgrounds. One hundred and forty-eight Hispanic low SES preschool children (male = 81, female = 67 participated in this study. All children were measured on gross and fine motor competence using the Peabody…

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of self-controlled feedback on the learning of a sequential-timing motor task in introverts and extroverts. Method: Fifty-six university students were selected by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. They practiced a motor task consisting of pressing computer keyboard keys…

Aims: Motor performance and self-perceived motor competence have a great impact on the psychosocial development of children in general. In this review, empirical studies of gross motor performance and self-perception of motor competence in children with emotional (depression and anxiety), behavioural, and pervasive developmental disorders are…

Sixty children, ages 2-4, observed videotaped, same-sex models perform sequences of skills requiring different levels of motor development. When asked to imitate one act from each sequence, children tended to imitate skills at their own developmental level rather than skills above or below their current level of competence. (Author/SJL)

Used the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency to examine the gross motor proficiency of Hong Kong 5- to 6-year-old preschoolers. Found that both age groups scored well below norms in running speed and agility and well above norms on balance, bilateral coordination, strength, and upper-limb coordination. Boys were superior to girls on…

Examined the role of same-sex peer interactions in influencing early school competence and the degree to which effortful control (EC) moderated these relations. Results indicated that EC, measured at the end of the Fall semester, moderated the relations of children's same-sex play to their school competence, measured at the end of the following…