Environmental Correlates of Motor Competence in Children—The Skilled Kids Study

Donna Niemistö, Taija Finni, Eero A. Haapala, Marja Cantell, Elisa Korhonen and Arja Sääkslahti
Additional contact information
Donna Niemistö: Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
Taija Finni: Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
Eero A. Haapala: Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
Marja Cantell: Department of Special Educational Needs and Child Care, University of Groningen, 9712 Groningen, The Netherlands
Elisa Korhonen: Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
Arja Sääkslahti: Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: Environment, physical activity (PA) and motor development are tightly interwoven during childhood. We examined the associations of environmental factors with motor competence (MC) in children. Children ( N = 945, 50.1% boys, age = 3–7 years, mean = 5.4 years) from 37 childcare centres in the Southern ( n = 17), Central ( n = 13) and Northern Finland ( n = 7) participated. The environmental factors comprised the geographical location (Southern, Central and Northern Finland) and residential density (metropolitan area, city, rural area and countryside) of the childcare centres’ based on postal codes and the national population density registry. MC was measured using the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD)-3, as well as by quantifying time spent outdoors and participation in organised sports via parental questionnaire. It was found that children from the countryside had better MC and spent most time outdoors, while children from the metropolitan area most frequently engaged in organised sports. Gender comparisons revealed that girls outperformed boys in locomotor skills, while boys were better in object control skills, had higher TGMD-3 score and spent more time outdoors. Time spent outdoors and participation in organised sports were associated positively with MC, but not in children from the countryside. In conclusion, higher population density was associated with lower MC and less time spent outdoors. The findings suggest that versatile outdoor environments may support motor development through PA.

Keywords: children; motor competence; environment; geographical location; residential density; outdoor time; participation in sports (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/1989/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/1989/ (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:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:1989-:d:237239

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

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