Association between motor performance, cognitive maturity and socio-demographic aspects in preschooler children

Abstract

The early identification of low motor proficiency in preschoolers may grant school intervention programs to be proposed as an effort to minimize the losses in school activities, social relationships, and physical education classes. Hence, identifying the factors underlying low motor performance in children is essential to reduce risks of motor disorders. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between motor performance, cognitive maturity, and sociodemographic aspects in preschoolers from the state of Paraná, Brazil. The sample size analyzed (i.e., 357 children) ranged in age from 3,5 to 5 years old. Data utilized in this study had its sources based on the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 test, and a sociodemographic assessment form. The following statistical tests were used to analyze our data: the Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Friedman (Wilcoxon), and binary logistic regression tests (p < 0.05). There was a high prevalence of low motor proficiency (i.e., 16.8%), cognitive maturity (CM) on average age (i.e., 67.2%), and families (e.g., sociodemographic factors) had an income below R$1.500,00 (i.e., 45.5%). A significant association was observed between high CM and low motor proficiency, indicating that CM was a protective factor for low motor proficiency. The sociodemographic factors were not related to motor performance (MP). We concluded here that higher CM in early childhood acted as a protective factor for low motor proficiency, whereas the sociodemographic factors were not associated with MP or CM in preschoolers.