Gender differences in motor skill proficiency from childhood to adolescence: a longitudinal study.
Students' proficiency in three object control and three locomotor skills were assessed in 2000 (M age = 10.06 years, SD = 0.63) in New South Wales, Australia and in 2006-07 (M age = 16.44 years, SD = 0.64). In 2006-07, 266 students, 138 girls (51.9%) and 128 boys (48.1%), had at least one skill reassessed. Boys were more object control proficient than girls. Childhood object control proficiency significantly predicted (p = .001) adolescent object control proficiency (r2 = .39), and, while gender was significant (p = .001), it did not affect the relationship between these variables (p = .53). Because childhood object control proficiency is predictive of subsequent object control proficiency, developing skills in childhood is important.
Barnett
Lisa M
LM
Faculty of Health Medicine Nursing and Behavioral Sciences at Deakin University, School of Health and Social Development, Victoria, Australia. lisa.barnett@deakin.edu.au
van Beurden
Eric
E
Morgan
Philip J
PJ
Brooks
Lyndon O
LO
Beard
John R
JR
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012737:Sex Factors