Does Perceived Competence Mediate between Ball Skills and Children's Physical Activity and Enjoyment?

Xiangli Gu,Tao Zhang,Lisa M. Barnett,Joonyoung Lee

doi:10.3390/children8070575

Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to examine the potential mediating role of perceived motor skill competence on relationships between actual ball skills and children’s physical activity (PA) and PA enjoyment. A total of 294 students (Mage = 10.96 ± 0.76; 51.7% boys) from three elementary schools completed validated questionnaires assessing their perceived competence, self-reported PA, and PA enjoyment. Students’ actual ball skills (i.e., basketball, overhand throwing, striking) were measured by PE MetricsTM. Correlation analyses showed positive relationships among the study variables (rs ranging from 0.12 to 0.56). The structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses demonstrated that the mediation model produces a goodness-of-fit to the data: χ2/df = 52.03/32; CFI = 0.96; NFI = 0.90; IFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.04. Path coefficients suggested that actual ball skill competence was strongly associated with perceived competence (β = 0.36, p < 0.01), which in turn significantly predicted PA (β = 0.29, p < 0.01) and PA enjoyment (β = 0.35, p < 0.01). The findings highlight that ball skills significantly impact students’ perceived competence, positively and indirectly affecting their PA and PA enjoyment. This study provides empirical evidence that recommends intervention strategies aimed at fostering elementary school students’ PA and PA enjoyment.

Highlights

Regular physical activity (PA) has positive effects on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health across the lifespan [1,2]
Actual ball skill competence indices were associated with most perceived ball skill competence indices, except between actual basketball skill competence and perceived striking skill competence, and between actual striking skill competence and perceived overhand throwing skill competence (p > 0.05)
Actual basketball skill competence was related to PA (r = 0.12, p < 0.05); no other correlations were found between actual ball skill competence indices and PA and PA enjoyment (p > 0.05)

Summary

Introduction

Regular physical activity (PA) has positive effects on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health across the lifespan [1,2]. Considering the developmental model of Stodden et al [4], the age of children in the sample is likely to impact whether locomotor or ball skill competence is a predictor of PA. The long-term effect of ball skill competence in PA could be associated with the skills (e.g., dribbling, striking, throwing) required to engage in moderate/vigorous sports training and competition in adolescence [7]. This may indicate that developing actual ball skill competence should be considered essential as a target to promote PA in school-aged children [7,15]

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Conclusion