Young Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Children's Fundamental Motor Competency and Physical Activity

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Student Learning and Teacher Effectiveness in Physical Education

Abstract

Guided by Stodden et al (2008)’s model, the purpose of this study was to examine the associations between fundamental motor skills (FMS; locomotor and object-control skills), physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviors (SB) among Hispanic and non-Hispanic children. 300 Hispanic and 371 non-Hispanic children (6.96 ± 1.6 years) completed the PE Metrics FMS assessment and wore Actical accelerometers. After adjusting for demographic variables, object-control skill emerged as a significant predictor of MVPA for both groups. Object-control skills significantly predicted SB in the non-Hispanic group. Hispanic children demonstrated higher LPA and lower MVPA in school days compared with non-Hispanic peers. The findings suggest that early childhood educators and childcare providers should provide skill-based instructions after factoring in culture-related activity preferences.

Authors

• Xiangli Gu, Univeristy of North Texas

• Senlin Chen, Louisiana State University