Abstract
Background: Motor skill is important to young children’s overall well-being. However, there has been a paucity of work examining the demographic characteristics on young children’ motor skill. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in motor skills across socio-economic status (SES) and grade levels in elementary school children. Method: Participants were 651 kindergarten to 2nd grade children (mean age = 6.2 ± 0.9 years; 305 girls, 346 boys) recruited from two low SES schools and another two high SES schools. Selected motor skill items were measured using the Test for Gross Motor Development-3rd Edition (TGMD-3) instrument. Data were collected once at each school during physical education class and recess period. A 4 × 3 × 2 × 2 Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) test was employed to examine the differences among grade, SES, ethnicity, and sex on TGMD-3 scores. Results: There were significant main effects for grade (Wilks’ lambda = 0.34, F (2, 1274) = 229.6, p < 0.001) and SES (Wilks’ lambda = 0.70, F (2, 637) = 136.3, p < 0.001). Follow-up tests revealed statistically significant differences between grades on locomotor, object control and overall TGMD-3, with the 2nd graders displaying highest mean scores, followed by 1st graders and kindergarteners. Follow-up tests suggested that high SES children displaying statistically significant higher mean scores than low SES students on all motor skill variables. Conclusion: Older children demonstrated higher motor competence levels, and those with high SES displayed higher motor skill levels than lower SES children.
Highlights
Motor skills are the basic human movements that are commonly identified by locomotor skills and manipulative skills (Burton & Miller, 1998; Pangrazi & Beighle, 2013; Barnett, Ridgers, & Salmon, 2015)
There is a growing body of evidence, the work examining the demographic characteristics on young children’s motor skills has not yet been explored in depth. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the demographic characteristics on motor skills in a sample of aged 5-7 years old children recruited from four rural schools
One of the salient findings was that the development of children’s motor skills improved with the progression of age, as older children in the sample demonstrated statistically significant higher Test for Gross Motor Development3rd Edition (TGMD-3) sub-tests and overall scores than the younger participants. Another salient finding was that children with high socio-economic status (SES) had a significantly higher motor skill level compared to low SES children, or those from low-income families
Summary
Motor skills are the basic human movements that are commonly identified by locomotor skills (e.g. running, jumping, sliding, etc.) and manipulative skills (e.g. kicking, throwing, or catching, etc.) (Burton & Miller, 1998; Pangrazi & Beighle, 2013; Barnett, Ridgers, & Salmon, 2015). An optimal development of young children’s motor skills is of significant importance for their healthy physical and social conditions, sport performance, and general daily living activities (Deflandre, Lorant, Gavarry, & Falgairette, 2001; Williams et al, 2008; Trudeau & Shephard, 2008; Lai et al, 2014; Robinson et al, 2015; Burns, Brusseau, Fu, & Hannon, 2017). Follow-up tests revealed statistically significant differences between grades on locomotor, object control and overall TGMD-3, with the 2nd graders displaying highest mean scores, followed by 1st graders and kindergarteners. Follow-up tests suggested that high SES children displaying statistically significant higher mean scores than low SES students on all motor skill variables. Conclusion: Older children demonstrated higher motor competence levels, and those with high SES displayed higher motor skill levels than lower SES children
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