Mastery of gross motor skills in preschool and early elementary school obese children

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the mastery of gross motor skills among preschool and early elementary school obese children; and determine the differences that exist between these two groups. Methods: Instrument TGMD-2 was used to assess gross motor skill performance of all the participants. Total sample size was 160; 80 obese children and 80 normal weight children. The mean age of preschool children was 4.87 (SD: 0.49), and for early elementary school children was 7.34 (SD: 0.63). The methods of analysis were one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and descriptive analysis. The alpha level of 0.05 was the criterion for all statistical significance. Results: The findings of this study revealed that there is a significant difference in gross motor skill performance between preschool obese children and early elementary school obese children. Conclusion: Obese children had lower gross motor skill proficiency compared to their normal weight peers. However, early elementary school obese children (aged between 6 and 8 years) performed poorer gross motor skills compared to preschool obese children (aged between 4 and 6 years).

Keywords:

• gross motor skill
• obesity
• elementary school children
• preschool children
• age
• TGMD-2.

Acknowledgements

We express our appreciation to Ali Baradaran and Dr Mohammad Khalaj for their assistance in conducting this study. We gratefully acknowledge the helpful participation of the principals, teachers, and students of the elementary school and kindergartens in this study.

Notes on contributors

Nafiseh Khalaj holds a bachelor degree in Physiotherapy from Tehran University of Medical Science, and master's degree in Sports Science from University Putra Malaysia. She is doing research on biomechanics and motor development.

Saidon Amri holds a doctoral degree in Kinesiology from Michigan State University. He was appointed as a lecturer with Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2004. He has mainly been involved in research concerning biomechanical analysis of physical activity, and growth and physical performance of adolescents.