Relationship between body mass index and motor Competence of children aged 7 to 10 years in Ahvaz City; A cross-sectional study

[摘要] Background and Objectives Motor competence (MC) in fundamental motor skills (FMS) is needed forchildren to participate in physical activities. This study aims to investigate the relationship between bodymass index (BMI) and MC in children aged 7-10 years.Subjects and Methods This is a correlational study with a cross-sectional design. Participants were 828children aged 7-10 years in Ahvaz, Iran who were selected by cluster random sampling method. The testof gross motor development-3, a digital scale, and a stadimeter were used to collect data. Descriptivestatistics, Pearson correlation test, and two-way analysis of variance were used in data analysis.Results The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children was high. There was a significant negativerelationship between BMI and MC in locomotor skills and in total FMS (P0.05). The effect of age was significanton the MC in both locomotor and ball skills and in total FMS (P0.05), but was significant on the MC in ball skills and in totalFMS (P<0.05).Conclusion Children’s BMI is associated with their low MC in FMS. The increase of MC in FMS with theincrease of age confirms the developmental nature of FMS. Due to the lower MC of girls in ball skills, theyare at higher risk of delayed motor development. It is recommended to improve their delayed motordevelopment and MC in ball skills by developing appropriate interventions.

[学科分类] 基础医学

[关键词] Fundamental Motor Skills;Motor competence;Body mass index;age;Gender