ABSTRACT

Motor skills develop rapidly during early childhood and are considered important for optimal child development. However, little is known about the relationship of motor skills with indicators of cognitive and socio-emotional development in typically developing preschoolers. In view of this, the present study examined the association of gross motor and fine motor skills with executive functions and prosocial behaviour in preschoolers. The study sample consisted of 111 participants between 3 and 5 years of age, who were assessed using the short version of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, second edition (BOT-2); the head-toes-knees-shoulders task; the Corsi block-tapping test (CBTT); the dimensional change card sort test (DCCS); and a teacher-rated prosocial behaviour questionnaire (PBQ). The results revealed significant positive associations between motor skills and executive functions as well as prosocial behaviour. Specifically, fine motor skills were twice as strong as a predictor for response inhibition compared to gross motor skills whereas gross motor skills dominated over fine motor skills in predicting prosocial behaviour. The findings of the study highlight the need to promote motor skills during early years of development.

摘要

运动技能在儿童早期发展迅速，被认为对儿童的最佳发育很重要。然而，对于正常发育的学龄前儿童的运动技能与认知和社会情感发展指标之间的关系知之甚少。鉴于此，本研究调查了学龄前儿童粗大运动和精细运动技能与执行功能和亲社会行为之间的关系。研究样本包括 111 名 3 至 5 岁的参与者，他们使用 Bruininks-Oseretsky 运动能力测试第二版 (BOT-2) 的简短版本进行评估；从头到脚到膝盖到肩膀的任务；Corsi 块敲击测试 (CBTT)；尺寸变化卡片分类测试（DCCS）；和教师评定的亲社会行为问卷（PBQ）。结果表明，运动技能与执行功能以及亲社会行为之间存在显着的正相关关系。具体而言，与粗大运动技能相比，精细运动技能是反应抑制预测因子的两倍，而粗大运动技能在预测亲社会行为方面优于精细运动技能。该研究的结果强调了在发育的早期阶段提高运动技能的必要性。