ArticleBMC public health2023
The effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns on motor skill development of 6- and 7-year old children in the Netherlands: a longitudinal study.
Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Motor Performance Before, During and After COVID-19 and the Role of Socioeconomic Background: A 10-Year Cohort Study of 68,996 Third Grade Children.Sports medicine - open · 2026Article
- Impact of COVID-19 restrictions on motor coordination in Italian school-aged children.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Trends in physical fitness among children and adolescents in Europe: A systematic review and meta-analyses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of sport and health science · 2025Review
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Development of Motor Skills of German 5- to 6-Year-Old Children.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Child Motor Development before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Are There Social Inequalities?Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Changes in Motor Competence of 4-8-Year-Old Children: A Longitudinal Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe closing of schools and sports clubs during the COVID-19 lockdown raised questions about the possible impact on children's motor skill development. Therefore, we compared motor skill development over a one-year period among four different cohorts of primary school children of which two experienced no lockdowns during the study period (control cohorts) and two cohorts experienced one or two lockdowns during the study period (lockdown cohorts).
methodsA total of 992 children from 9 primary schools in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) participated in this study (age 5 - 7; 47.5% boys, 52.5% girls). Their motor skill competence was assessed twice, first in grade 3 (T1) and thereafter in grade 4 (T2). Children in control group 1 and lockdown group 1 were assessed a third time after two years (T3). Motor skill competence was assessed using the 4-Skills Test, which includes 4 components of motor skill: jumping force (locomotion), jumping coordination (coordination), bouncing ball (object control) and standing still (stability). Mixed factorial ANOVA's were used to analyse our data.
resultsNo significant differences in motor skill development over the study period between the lockdown groups and control groups (p > 0.05) were found, but a difference was found between the two lockdown groups: lockdown group 2 developed significantly better than lockdown group 1 (p = 0.008). While socioeconomic status was an effect modifier, sex and motor ability did not modify the effects of the lockdowns.
conclusionsThe COVID-19 lockdowns in the Netherlands did not negatively affect motor skill development of young children in our study. Due to the complexity of the factors related to the pandemic lockdowns and the dynamic systems involved in motor skill development of children, caution must be taken with drawing general conclusions. Therefore, children's motor skill development should be closely monitored in the upcoming years and attention should be paid to individual differences.
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