Do motor skills in infancy and early childhood predict anxious and depressive symptomatology at school age?

Abstract

Research has identified a relationship between social–emotional problems and motor impairment in both pre-school and school-age children. The aim of the current study was to determine how motor performance in infancy and early childhood is related to levels of anxious and depressive symptomatology at age 6–12 years. Fifty participants were assessed by their parents 11 times between the ages of 4 months and 4 years using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ), and once between the age of 6 and 12 years using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The ASQ scores were used to obtain the stability (variance) of fine and gross motor performance. Once gestational age, sex and age of testing were taken into account, the stability of gross motor scores predicted both the anxiety/depression measure and the anxious score from the CBCL. It appears that how variable a young child’s gross motor development is from 4 months to 4 years predicts the level of anxious/depressive symptoms at school age. These findings may assist in the early identification of children at risk of anxiety disorders and depression at school age.