AUTHOR=Chen Jiebo , Song Wenjing , Zhao Xing , Lou Hu , Luo Dongmei 

TITLE=The relationship between fundamental motor skills and physical fitness in preschoolers: a short-term longitudinal study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1270888

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1270888

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Purpose</title><p>Physical fitness and fundamental motor skills are two important aspects for the healthy development of preschoolers. Despite the growing interest in clarifying their relationship, the scarcity of longitudinal studies prevents us from understanding causality.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Method</title><p>This study employed a cross-lagged model with two time points to investigate the bidirectional relationship between these two aspects. A total of 174 preschoolers (54.0% girls) from 3 to 6 years old (<italic>M</italic> = 3.96 ± 0.47) were surveyed, they were recruited by convenience from two kindergartens in Beijing, China, and their physical fitness (via CNPFDSM-EC) and fundamental motor skills (via TGMD-3) were tracked over a period of 6 months.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Results</title><p>The findings revealed a bidirectional predictive effect. The predictive strength of flexibility was found to be lower than other physical fitness aspects, while locomotor skills demonstrated a higher predictive strength than object control skills.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>This study indicates that physical fitness and fundamental motor skills mutually enhance each other in young children, and both should be emphasized in preschool sports education.</p></sec>