The Mediating Role Played by Perceived Motor Competence in the Relationship between Motor Competence and Physical Activity in Spanish Adolescents

Emilio Royo, Julio Latorre-Peña, Magali Denoni and Santos Orejudo ()
Additional contact information
Emilio Royo: Musical, Plastic and Corporal Expression Department, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Julio Latorre-Peña: Musical, Plastic and Corporal Expression Department, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Magali Denoni: Department of Educational Science, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Santos Orejudo: Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 23, 1-14

Abstract: The promotion of regular physical activity (PA) is becoming one of the main tools applied in developed countries to address health and obesity problems, particularly in view of the proven benefits of PA on a physical, psychological, and social level. Indeed, childhood and adolescence are crucial periods for an active lifestyle can be established, with the prospect of prolonging it in adulthood. The conceptual model propounded by Stodden provides a theoretical underpinning for the relationship between motor competence (MC) and PA. This study’s objective was to explore the predictive value of motor competence (MC) regarding physical activity (PA), along with the mediating role played by self-perceived motor competence (SPMC) and comparatively perceived motor competence (CPMC), with the purpose of confirming the theoretical model propounded by Stodden, as well as the relationships among variables in our own conceptual model. To this end, we tested a random sample of 925 adolescents (53.6% males; 46.3% females, age 13.75 years, SD = 1.28). Participants completed the Multidimensional Sportcomp Battery to evaluate MC and the Achievement Motivation in Physical Education test (AMPET4) to evaluate their perception of their competence; moreover, to evaluate PA, we used three indicators from the WHO Health Behaviour in Schoolchildren survey in the Spanish version. Our final theoretical model explains 19.9% of the variance of sport practice in boys and 24.2% in girls; moreover, it ascribes an important role to self-perceived motor competence (SPMC) and to comparatively perceived motor competence (CPMC) as mediating variables in the relationship between MC and PA in both sexes. Notably, we found a direct relationship between motor coordination/control tests and PA. Overall, this study underscores the degree to which adolescents’ perceived motor competence affects their actual motor competence.

Keywords: motor competence; physical activity; perceived motor competence; comparatively perceived motor competence; adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16327/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16327/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:23:p:16327-:d:1288353

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().