BODY MASS INDEX AND MOTOR COORDINATION OF BOYS AND GIRLS AGED 7 TO 9

The aim of this paper is to examine the differences in the overall level of motor coordination between groups of children with different nutritional status. In total, 418 participants of both sexes, aged 7-9, took part in the study. The participants were classified based on their nutritional status into one of four groups: underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese, according to the International Obesity Task Force. The motor coordination of the participants was assessed using the KTK (Körpercoordination test für Kinder) battery of tests and total point scores were calculated for each age category. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to examine the differences in the overall motor coordination between groups of participants. Statistical significance was set at the p≤.05 level. The results revealed statistically significant differences in the overall level of motor coordination between all the examined groups of boys with different nutritional status aged 7, 8 and 9. The results of the Mann-Whitney test showed statistically significant differences between all three age groups of boys (7-, 8- and 9-year-olds) in favor of the normal weight groups. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed no statistically significant differences in the case of the girls. The results of the Mann-Whitney test revealed statistically significant differences between all three age groups of girls (7-, 8- and 9-year-olds) in favor of the normal weight groups. The obtained results showed statistically significantly poorer motor coordination in boys and girls with higher values of body mass index compared to boys and girls with normal body weight across all age groups.