Bidirectional relationships of physical activity and gross motor skills before and after summer break: Application of a cross-lagged panel model

Abstract

BackgroundGross motor skills are postulated to have a bidirectional relationship with physical activity (PA); however, no study has tested this relationship before and after a summer break. The purpose of this study was to examine the bidirectional relationships between school PA and gross motor skills in children before and after a summer break. MethodsParticipants were a sample of 440 children recruited from 3 low-income schools (age = 8.9 ± 1.2 years, mean ± SD). PA was assessed as average school-day step counts using Yamax DigiWalker pedometers (Yamasa Tokei Keiki, Tokyo, Japan) worn for 5 consecutive school days. Gross motor skills were assessed using the Test for Gross Motor Development, 3rd edition. Data were collected at 2 timepoints: at the end of spring semester (T1) and at the beginning of the subsequent fall semester (T2). An age- and body mass index-adjusted cross-lagged model was employed to relate T1 school step counts with T2 gross motor skills and T1 gross motor skills with T2 school step counts. ResultsT1 gross motor skills significantly predicted T2 school step counts (β = 0.24, 95 % confidence interval (95%CI): 0.08–0.40, p = 0.003); however, T1 school step counts did not predict T2 gross motor skills (β = 0.04, 95%CI: –0.06 to 0.14, p = 0.445). The model explained 35.4% and 15.9% of the variances of T2 gross motor skills and T2 school step counts, respectively. Additional analyses indicated that these relationships were driven primarily by ball skills. ConclusionThe relationship between gross motor skills and school PA was not bidirectional; however, higher gross motor skills, specifically ball skills, predicted higher school PA after a 3-month summer break.