Relationship Between Actual and Perceived Locomotor and Ball Skills Competence Among Children: A Person–Centered Approach

ABSTRACT

This study examined whether profiles varying in actual and perceived locomotor and ball skill competencies would be identified and whether these profiles would differ in relation to children’s characteristics. Participants were 127 (70 boys; 57 girls) French-speaking Canadian children (5–11 years). Actual and perceived motor competencies were, respectively, measured using the Test of Gross Motor Development – Third version and the pictorial scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence. Latent profile analyses revealed four profiles: (1) Non-Alignment: Devaluation (children underestimated their slightly below average competencies; 17.9%); (2) Non-Alignment: Overestimation (children overestimated their slightly below average competencies; 24.7%); (3) Non-Alignment: Underestimation (children slightly underestimated their above average competencies; 24.9%); (4) Alignment: Low Competence (children displayed accurate but slightly below average competencies; 32.5%). Girls were more likely to correspond to profiles 1 and 4, older children and children more frequently involved in physical activity/sport practice were more likely to correspond to profile 3, and younger children were more likely to correspond to profile 2. These results emphasise the importance of considering the alignment between perceived and actual motor competencies. They also indicate that age and physical activity/sport practice were associated with higher competencies, whereas girls and younger children were associated with lower competencies.

KEYWORDS:

• Motor skill competencies
• objective motor skill competencies
• perceived motor skill competencies
• discrepancies

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2021.1987722.

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ A score of zero corresponds to the sample average and scores are expressed in standard deviation units. Therefore, we consider scores between: (a) +0.10 and + 0.50 or −0.10 and – 0.50 to be slightly above or slightly below the average; (b) +0.51 and +1 or −0.51 and −1 to be above or below the average; and (c) ≥ +1.01 or −1.01 to be strongly above or strongly below the average.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.