Reducing the Object Control Skills Gender Gap in Elementary School Boys and Girls

Abstract

Purpose: This study was aimed to understand the effect of a customized physical education (PE) program on object control skills (OCS) in third grade schoolgirls, and to compare their skills to their male counterparts. Methods: Seventy-six children (32 girls, 44 boys) aged 8 - 9 years were assessed at baseline, after an all-girls six-week intervention program (post-test), and after six weeks of resuming co-educational regular PE (retention). Assessments included the upper limb coordination subtest from the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, second edition (BOT-2), and the ball skills component of the Test of Gross Motor Development, version three (TGMD-3). Results: Findings from both assessment tools showed that boys had significantly better upper limb coordination and ball skills at baseline (P < 0.05), and that this gender gap was no longer significant after the all-girls OCS intervention program. Girls continued to improve their OCS skills, with a total score increase of +1.3 (95% CI = −0.1, 2.9) for upper limb coordination and +2.8 (P < 0.05, 95% CI = 0.4, 5.2) for ball skills from baseline to retention. Conclusion: This research suggests that a six-week all-girls intervention program reduces the variance in OCS proficiency in pre-adolescent boys and girls.