Perceived Movement Skills Competence in Preschool Girls and Boys

Perceived Movement Competence (PMC) is the perception of individuals about their motor abilities which can affect motor skills acquisition. PMC is mostly considered as a mediating variable to achieve other desirable health-related outcomes, such as physical activity or exercise persistency. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the competence of perceived movement skills in preschool children and to compare it between boys and girls.

In the current descriptive comparative study, the statistical population was 4-6 year-old children from all preschool centers in Tehran. Convenience sampling was used to select 86 children from two preschools as statistical sample in 2017. After receiving consent letters from their parents, they were evaluated via pictorial scale of perceived movement competence. Descriptive statistics was used for statistical analysis, and Inferential statistics was applied to test the hypotheses using independent t-test and nonparametric Mann-Whitney test. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, version 25, and the significance level was considered 0.05 in all statistical calculations

The results revealed that there were no significant differences in perceived movement skills competence as well as locomotor and object control Perceived competence scores between preschool girls and boys (P>0.05).

According to the results, there was no difference in the perceived movement skills competence between preschool girls and boys.