How Do Health, Biological, Behavioral, and Cognitive Variables Interact over Time in Children of Both Sexes? A Complex Systems Approach

Elenice de Sousa Pereira (), Mabliny Thuany, Paulo Felipe Ribeiro Bandeira, Thayse Natacha Q. F. Gomes and Fernanda Karina dos Santos
Additional contact information
Elenice de Sousa Pereira: Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa 36570-900, MG, Brazil
Mabliny Thuany: Faculty of Sports, University of Porto, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
Paulo Felipe Ribeiro Bandeira: Department of Physical Education, Regional University of Cariri—URCA, Crato 63105-000, CE, Brazil
Thayse Natacha Q. F. Gomes: Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Sergipe, São Cristóvão 49100-000, SE, Brazil
Fernanda Karina dos Santos: Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa 36570-900, MG, Brazil

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: The present study examined gender differences in health, physical activity, physical fitness, real and perceived motor competence, and executive function indicators in three time points, and analyzed the dynamic and non-linear association between health, biological, behavioral, and cognitive variables in children followed over time. A total of 67 children (aged between six and 10 years) were followed during two years and split into two cohorts (six to eight years old: C1; eight to 10 years old: C2). Data regarding health, physical activity, real and perceived motor competence, physical fitness, and executive function indicators were obtained according to their respective protocols. Comparison tests and network analysis were estimated. Significant gender differences were found in both cohorts. The emerged networks indicated different topologies in both cohorts. No clusters were observed between the variables in C1, and there was a greater number of interactions at eight years of age. Sparse networks were observed in children aged eight and 10 years in C2, and greater connectivity was observed at nine years of age between health, physical fitness, motor competence, and physical activity indicators. This study showed that there are non-linear dynamic relationships between health, biological, behavioral, and cognitive variables over time during child development.

Keywords: growth and development; fundamental motor skills; physical activity; health; cognition; complex systems; childhood (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (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/1660-4601/20/3/2728/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2728/ (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:20:y:2023:i:3:p:2728-:d:1056682

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 ().