title: Longitudinal patterns of change in eye-hand coordination in children aged 8-16 years.
abstract: Enhanced eye-hand coordination (EHC) is associated with greater participation in physical activity. No longitudinal studies have examined the change in throw-catch EHC from childhood to mid-adolescence. We investigated the development of EHC with an object control test from childhood to mid-adolescence in boys and girls. Evaluated at age 8, 10, 12 and 16 years, EHC was measured as the aggregate success rate of a throw and wall-rebound catch test. The test involved 40 attempts of progressive increasing difficulty, as determined by increased distances from a wall and transitions from two-handed to one-handed catches. Outcomes were treated as quasi-binomial and modelled by generalised linear mixed logistic regression analysis. EHC improved with age from childhood to mid-adolescence, although boys were more adept at each age (p<0.001). The patterns of change in EHC with increasing age varied according to the degree of difficulty of the task (p<0.001); throw and two-handed catch proficiency developing earlier than throw and one-handed catch in both sexes. Boys' EHC was better than girls' as early as age 8 years and male proficiency was maintained through to mid-adolescence. The proficiency of throw and two-handed catch rates developed faster than throw and one-handed catch rates for both sexes.
authors.affiliation: University of Canberra, Faculty of Health, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, Australia. Electronic address: Lennon.Wicks@canberra.edu.au.
authors.forename: Lennon J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Wicks
authors.affiliation: University of Canberra, Faculty of Health, Centre for Research and Action in Public Health, Australia.
authors.forename: Rohan M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Telford
authors.affiliation: Australian National University, Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australia.
authors.forename: Ross B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.affiliation: University of Canberra, Faculty of Health, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, Australia.
authors.forename: Stuart J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Semple
authors.affiliation: University of Canberra, Faculty of Health, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, Australia.
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Telford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors; D065853:Spatial Learning
keywords: Coordination; Development; Motor skills; Object control; Physical activity