Parental, prenatal, and neonatal associations with ball skills at age 8 using an exposome approach.
There is little consistency in the literature concerning factors that influence motor coordination in children. A hypothesis-free "exposome" approach was used with 7359 children using longitudinal information covering 3 generations in regard to throwing a ball accurately at age 7 years. The analyses showed an independent robust negative association with mother's unhappiness in her midchildhood (6-11 years). No such association was present for study fathers. The offspring of parents who described themselves as having poor eyesight had poorer ability. This hypothesis-free approach has identified a strong negative association with an unhappy childhood. Future studies of this cohort will be used to determine whether the mechanism is manifest through differing parenting skills, or a biological mechanism reflecting epigenetic effects.
Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social & Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom jean.golding@bristol.ac.uk.
Jean
J
Golding
Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social & Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Steven
S
Gregory
Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social & Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Yasmin
Y
Iles-Caven
Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Raghu
R
Lingam
Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
John M
JM
Davis
Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social & Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Pauline
P
Emmett
Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, School of Social & Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Colin D
CD
Steer
Section on Nutritional Neurosciences, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Joseph R
JR
Hibbeln
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009048:Motor Skills; D012649:Self Concept; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000523:psychology
ALSPAC; ball skills; exposome; maternal environmental background; motor coordination