Original researchCorrelation between BMI and motor coordination in children
Introduction
The prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing worldwide. In Europe, the percentage of overweight and obesity in adolescents ranges from 3% to almost 35% in 13-year-olds and from 5% to 28% in 15-year-olds. In Portugal 32% of children between seven to nine years of age are overweight or obese.1
Although several studies have shown that obese children and adolescents are less physically active than their non-obese peers, relationships between physical activity (PA), sedentary activity, and obesity in children and adolescents has not been clearly established.2 Overall, many studies examining PA and/or weight status in children have only provided data on psychological and environmental correlates.3 Recent studies have focused on understanding the relationships among motor coordination (MC) and health-related behaviors and attributes. A recent review on the relationships among MC and health benefits in children and adolescents4 indicated MC levels are inversely correlated with weight status, but positively correlated with PA, and perceived physical competence in cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Weight status was negatively correlated with MC in six of nine studies, with the remaining three demonstrating no relationship. This review of associations of MC and aspects of physical and psychological attributes provides indirect evidence that MC may be an important antecedent/consequent mechanism for promoting to healthy lifestyles related behaviors, including weight status.
Despite the fact that a large number of children do not achieve PA recommendations5 children are naturally drawn to be active and, if provided the opportunity, often engage in active play6 Inherent pleasure associated with movement,7 as well as the psychological benefits associated with MC8 may be important contributors to children's PA.
Stodden et al.9 proposed a developmental and recursive model suggesting that obesity trajectories may be triggered by the cumulative effects that lower levels of MC has on reducing movement opportunities (PA), physical fitness, and perceived physical competence during childhood. Overall, low MC will result in unsuccessful participation in movement play activities and/or sports in middle to late childhood, thus leading to a negative spiral of disengagement from an active lifestyle. Accordingly, the model predicts that MC levels will eventually lead to positive or negative obesity trajectories over time as the recursive nature of the model effects compound over time. To our knowledge, no studies have specifically examined the relationship between MC and weight status over time.
It is important to note that the term “motor coordination,” used in this study is a general term that encompasses various aspects of movement competency. There are many different test batteries that assess movement in a variety of ways using different movement tests. Specifically, process and product oriented movement assessments are used to examine differences in levels of MC. For example, the aforementioned review article4 reported data from many studies that assessed “fundamental movement skills” (i.e., object control and locomotor skills) from a subjective, process-oriented perspective. That is, actual movements, and not the product of the movements, were subjectively assessed to differentiate skill levels. Alternatively, other studies not used in the Lubans et al. review have used product-oriented movement assessments.10, 11, 12 These types of assessments examine objective outcomes of movements (e.g., distance, speed). While it is outside the scope of this study to explain the differences and limitations in how movement and/or movement outcomes are assessed,9 we used the term “motor coordination” in this study as it specifically aligns with the language used in the assessment implemented for this study (Kiphard-Schilling body coordination test) and with previous literature that has used the same assessment.
The purpose of this study was to examine the association between MC (as defined by the Kiphard-Schilling body coordination test) and weight status (BMI) across childhood and early adolescence. This is the first study to specifically address the possible changing relationships between weight status and MC across a wide range of ages.
Section snippets
Methods
Data were collected from 7175 children (boys n = 3616 – girls n = 3,559), between 6 and 14 years of age (see Table 1 in supplementary material). These data were combined from several research projects13, 14, 15 conducted by the authors in four regions of Portugal (Azores Islands, Madeira Islands, northeast and central regions of continental area) between 2003 and 2009. All children were attending public schools selected according to the general characteristics of each region. Despite the fact that
Results
Table 1 provides descriptive statistics for weight, height, BMI and MQ for boys and girls of different age groups.
Motor coordination results show clear MC gender differences with boys outperforming girls at every age. According to normative values of KTK test battery,17 results indicated low to moderate MC, especially for girls, across all ages. The results for girls were indicative of “moderate motor disorder”. For boys the results were at the lower ranges of “normal coordination”, except for
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to analyze the association between BMI and MC (as measured by the KTK assessment) in children, ages 6–14 years. The present study demonstrated low to moderate negative correlations between MC and BMI across age. Data also indicate markedly poorer MC for overweight and obese children of both sexes compared to normal weight children. Overall, these data agree with most other data that demonstrate an inverse relationship between childhood body weight status and
Conclusion
These data support the majority of cross-sectional data that indicate MC is inversely associated with BMI, and that the strength of the inverse relation increases during childhood in both genders. Overweight and obese children showed markedly worse MC levels. Despite the limitation of the cross-sectional design, MC showed to be an important, yet dynamic, correlate of weight status.
Practical implications
- •
Observations from this study highlight the potential importance of promoting motor coordination in children to alleviate increasing obesity trajectories across childhood.
- •
The increasing negative correlations between motor coordination and body mass index across childhood suggests there is a need to allocate appropriate time for play and directed learning experiences that will allow for the development of motor coordination. Providing adequate directed learning experiences, time for play and a
Acknowledgments
Part of the data of the present study was collected with the financial support of the Department of Physical Educational and Sports and the Department of Science and Technology of Autonomic Government of Azores Region (Direcção Regional de Educação Física e Desporto e Direcção Regional da Ciência e Tecnologia da Região Autónoma dos Açores), Portugal.
References (27)
- et al.
Perceived and actual competence among overweight and non-overweight children
J Sci Med Sport
(2010) - et al.
Childhood motor skill proficiency as a predictor of adolescent physical activity
J Adolesc Health
(2009) - et al.
Clinical longitudinal standards for height and height velocity for north american children
J Pediatr
(1985) - et al.
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in 7–9 year old portuguese children: trends in body mass index from 1970–2002
Am J Hum Biol
(2004) - et al.
Growth, maturation and physical activity
(2004) - et al.
A brief review on correlates of physical activity and sedentariness in youth
Med Sci Sports Exerc
(2007) - et al.
Fundamental movement skills in children and adolescents: review of associated health benefits
Sports Med
(2010) - et al.
Between- and within-day variability in physical activity and inactivity in 9- and 15-year-old european children
Scand J Med Sci Sports
(2009) - et al.
Resurrecting free play in young children: looking beyond fitness and fatness to attention, affiliation, and affect
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med
(2005) - et al.
Reward processing in the brain: a prerequisite for movement preparation?
Neural Plast
(2003)
The relationship between motor proficiency and physical activity in children
Pediatrics
A developmental perspective on the role of motor skill competence in physical activity: an emergent relationship
Quest
Motor coordination as predictor of physical activity in childhood
Scand J Med Sci Sports
Cited by (228)
Two years of physically active mathematics lessons enhance cognitive function and gross motor skills in primary school children
2022, Psychology of Sport and ExerciseCitation Excerpt :More recently, the importance of physical activity and education in elementary school for learning life skills and developing positive behavioral patterns has been highlighted (UNESCO, 2017). The results of the present study suggest the potential impact that effective physically active lessons in primary school may have on the development of children gross motor skills, which is associated with greater general well-being, fitness, and physical activity levels (Barnett et al., 2016; Lopes et al., 2017, 2012; Robinson et al., 2015). Considering the parallel development of cognitive ability and motor skills in this study, it is possible to hypothesise that gross motor skills are correlated with several aspects of cognitive function.
Rethinking the association between overweight/obesity and ADHD in children: A longitudinal and psychosocial perspective
2023, Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine