The Relationship Between Motor Skills, Psychosocial Adjustment and Peer Victimization in School-Aged Children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between childrens’ motor competence, psychosocial adjustment, peer victimization, physical activity participation and obesity.  Using the Elaborated Environmental Stress Hypothesis as the framework, we hypothesized that multiple stressors influence children with poor motor competence and that the pathway from motor competence to psychosocial maladjustment is more complex than initially thought.  A sample of child-parent dyads (n = 51; children ages 7 to 10 years), were recruited from two educational institutions in Sudbury, Ontario. Child participants completed self-report measures on peer victimization, depression symptoms, loneliness and anxiety symptoms across five dimensions (social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, separation anxiety, panic disorder and generalized anxiety). Child participants also completed the Test of Gross Motor Development-3.  Parent participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and a questionnaire on their child’s levels of participation in physical activity. For boys, Pearson product-moment correlations revealed that lower motor competence was significantly related to depressive symptoms, social phobia, separation anxiety symptoms, loneliness and peer victimization. For girls, lower motor competence was significantly related to separation anxiety symptoms and loneliness. No correlations were found between motor competence, weight status and physical activity participation.  Findings are consistent with previous literature. These findings suggest that (1) boys are more psychosocially affected and victimized than girls when measured against motor competence and, (2) children are experiencing these issues as early as age 7, which is a time when children are starting to build social relationships. More research is required strengthen these findings.