Actual vs. Perceived Motor Competence in Children (8–10 Years): An Issue of Non-Veridicality

Cain Clark,Jason Moran,Benjamin Drury,Fotini Venetsanou,John Fernandes

doi:10.3390/jfmk3020020

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the between- and within-sex differences in actual and perceived locomotor and object control skills in children (8–10 year). All participants (58 children (29 boys; 9.5 ± 0.6 years; 1.44 ± 0.09 m; 39.6 ± 9.5 kg; body mass index; 18.8 ± 3.1 kg·m2)) completed the Test of Gross Motor Development (2nd edition) and the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence for Young Children. Between- and within-sex differences were assessed using independent and paired samples t-tests, respectively. For all tests, effect sizes and Bayes factors were calculated. There were significant differences (p < 0.001) between sexes for perceived locomotor and perceived object control skills (boys > girls), with Bayes factors extremely in favour of the alternate hypothesis (BF: 55,344 and 460, respectively). A significant difference (p < 0.001) was found between girls’ actual and perceived locomotor skills (d = −0.88; 95% confidence interval: −0.46 to −1.34), with Bayes factors extremely in favour of the alternate hypothesis (BF: 483). A significant difference (p < 0.001) was found between boys’ actual and perceived object control skills (d = 0.69; 95% CI: 0.2 to 1.12), with Bayes factors very strongly in favour of the alternate hypothesis (BF: 41). These findings suggest that there exists an issue of non-veridicality between actual and perceived motor competence skills, and their subsets, and a sex-mediated discord in children (8–10 years).

Highlights

A substantial literature base affirms the association between children’s motor competence (MC) and physical activity (PA) behaviours, potentially, to combat the global obesity epidemic [1,2,3,4]
Adab et al [16] reported in a longitudinal study that a one-year school/community-based PA intervention had no effect on body mass index (BMI) z-scores at 15- or 30-months post-intervention, highlighting that communities and schools are unlikely to impact on the childhood obesity epidemic by incorporating only PA targeted interventions
There was no significant difference (p = 0.15) found between sexes for actual locomotor skills (Female (F): 69.8 ± 5.27 vs. Male (M): 72.3 ± 7.47%; d = 0.38, 95% confidence intervals (CIs): 0.14 to 0.9) (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

A substantial literature base affirms the association between children’s motor competence (MC) and physical activity (PA) behaviours, potentially, to combat the global obesity epidemic [1,2,3,4]. Motor competence refers to a child’s ability to perform a wide range of motor skills in a proficient manner [5]. Motor competence is frequently defined as proficiency in the performance of fundamental motor skills (FMS) [3,6]. Fundamental motor skills are considered to be the basic building blocks to more advanced movement patterns [7], and generally consist of locomotor and object control skills. Adab et al [16] reported in a longitudinal study that a one-year school/community-based PA intervention had no effect on body mass index (BMI) z-scores at 15- or 30-months post-intervention, highlighting that communities and schools are unlikely to impact on the childhood obesity epidemic by incorporating only PA targeted interventions

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