Prediction of arithmetic abilities of children who practice sports: The use of the gamma model

Background and Aim of Study: The physical performance that children exhibit when engaging in sports or any form of physical activity will depend not only on their physical abilities but also on their psychological and cognitive attributes. The aim of the study: to analyze whether symptoms of anxiety, lie, attention, and age are predictors of arithmetic abilities in children practicing sports. Material and Methods: The study sample consisted of 108 children with an average age of 12.12 (±2.18) who practice various sports, with greater emphasis on futsal and soccer. The study protocol consisted of a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale, the d2 Test of Attention, and the Arithmetic subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Results: The results showed that through the adjusted model, we identify four significant explanatory variables that are predictors of arithmetic abilities, namely anxiety symptoms (β=-0.009, p=0.009); and the attention sub-factors: processed characters (β=0.002, p=3.44e-14), default errors (β=-0.005, p=0.000), errors by marking irrelevant characters (β=-0.016, p=0.003). Conclusions: The presence of anxiety symptoms and attentional cognitive abilities play a significant role in predicting the arithmetic aptitudes of young individuals. These variables should be taken into consideration within training programs for young athletes, as they hold relevance for sports engagement.