The relationship between children’s temperament and fundamental movement skills mediated by autonomy and self-regulation

ABSTRACT

This study examined two subfactors of fundamental movement skills: locomotion skills and object-control skills. The direct and indirect effects of children’s temperament on fundamental movement skills and the mediating effects of autonomy and self-regulation were examined. Participants included 278 pairs of 3- to 5-year-old children and their mothers from 4 day care centres. High levels of emotionality and sociability were positively associated with a high level of children’s autonomy, self-regulation and fundamental movement skills. There was a mediating effect of children’s autonomy and self-regulation on the effect of temperament on locomotion skills, but there was no mediating effect on object-control skills. The results provide empirical evidence of holistic development by confirming that temperament is a variable that affects gross motor development and that children’s psychological development is related to motor development.

KEYWORDS:

• Temperament
• fundamental movement skills
• autonomy
• self-regulation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yujin Jang

Yujin Jang designed and executed the study, assisted with the data analyses, and wrote the manuscript.

Yea-Ji Hong

Yea-Ji Hong collaborated with designing the study, executing the study, and writing and editing the final manuscript.