Impact of Normal Weight, Overweight, and Obesity on Fundamental Motor Skills among 3-6-Year-Old Children in Tehran

The prevalence of obesity in the world has increased dramatically, and it is an effective factor in the fundamental motor skills of children.

This study aimed to compare the fundamental motor skills of 3-6-year-old boys and girls with normal weight, overweight, and obesity in Tehran, Iran.

This applied-field study was conducted on 774 children (378 girls and 396 boys) with an age range from 3 to 6 years. The subjects were selected randomly from the geographical regions of the north, east, south, west, and center of Tehran, Iran. They were then divided into three groups of normal weight, overweight, and obese based on the body mass index (BMI) value points of the Bouchard table. Height, weight, fat percentage, and fundamental motor skills (e.g., balance, jumping, receiving and throwing the ball) were assessed in this study. Finally, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to analyze the data through SPSS software (version 25).

The results showed that the distribution of normal weight, overweight, and obesity does not affect the balance skill of 3-6-year-old girls and boys (P=0.632; P=0.555). However, the girls showed more significant competence in the balance skill, compared to boys (P=0.025). On the other hand, boys outperformed significantly the girls in the other fundamental motor skills, including jumping, as well as receiving and throwing the ball (P=0.000). Moreover, the distribution of normal weight, overweight, and obesity was only effective in scores of boys (P=0.039; P=0.007; P=0.001) and did not affect those of girls (P=0.103; P=0.189; P=0.693).

Normal weight, overweight, and obesity did not affect the balance of girls and boys aged 3 to 6 years. However, they had effects on fundamental motor skills, such as jumping, as well as throwing and receiving the ball, especially in boys.Keywords: Children, Fundamental Motor skills, Normal weight, Obesity, Overweight