Influence of different caregiving styles on fundamental movement skills among children

Jiahui Hu; Shudan Zhang; Weibing Ye; Yuanye Zhu; Huiling Zhou; Lihua Lu; Qian Chen; Mallikarjuna Korivi

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1232551

Influence of different caregiving styles on fundamental movement skills among children

Front Public Health. 2023 Nov 28:11:1232551. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1232551. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jiahui Hu^#¹, Shudan Zhang^#^{1

2}, Weibing Ye¹, Yuanye Zhu¹, Huiling Zhou¹, Lihua Lu³, Qian Chen⁴, Mallikarjuna Korivi¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Human Movement and Sports Engineering, College of Physical Education and Health Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China.
² Handu Xinyuan, No. 1 Primary School, Xi'an, China.
³ The Affiliated Kindergarten of Jinhua Polytechnic, Jinhua, China.
⁴ Zhejiang Sports Science Institute, Hangzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the influence of parenting and grandparenting caregiving styles on fundamental motor skills (FMS) of preschool children.

Method: A total of 1,326 preschool children (698 boys, 628 girls) aged 4-6 years were recruited from the kindergartens of Jinhua City, China. Locomotor skills (LM), ball skills (BS), and total fundamental movement skills (TS) of children were assessed by the Test of Gross Motor Development-3rd edition (TGMD-3).

Results: There were 978 children in parenting and 348 children in grandparenting caregiving styles. The LM, BS and TS scores of children were considerably (p < 0.001) increased with age (irrespective of sex or caregiving style). For the sex comparisons, BS scores of boys were significantly higher than girls (p < 0.001), while LM and TS scores were not different between boys and girls. For the caregiving style comparison, parenting is superior to grandparenting in developing of children's FMS. Parenting boys of 4-, 5-, and 6-years old showed better BS compared to age-matched parenting girls, whereas boys of 5-years old in grandparenting only showed better BS compared to same-age grandparenting girls (p < 0.05). Furthermore, parenting boys of 6-years reported higher LM (p < 0.01), BS (p < 0.001), and TS (p < 0.001) scores compared to grandparenting boys, but girls' FMS at all ages were not significantly different between the caregiving styles.

Conclusion: Parenting caregiving style is positively associated with proper development of FMS among children. Girl children with poor FMS in grandparenting may need a special care or intervention programs to promote their FMS.

Keywords: ball skills; grandparenting; motor skills; parenting; physical activity; preschoolers.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child, Preschool
Educational Status
Female
Humans
Male
Motor Skills*
Parenting*
Schools
Sex Factors

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Jinhua City Physical Health Integration Service Procurement Project (grant number: TY2023-FW332), Zhejiang Province, China.