SynthesisSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2025
Children's and Adolescents' Actual Motor Competence, Perceived Physical Competence and Physical Activity: A Structural Equation Modelling Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Motor Competence of Learning with a Perception-Awareness Approach: A Pilot Study in the Formal Learning Environment.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The spiral symbiosis of skill and interest: the psychological mechanism of their synergistic development in PE classes.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Linking Motor Competence to Children's Self-Perceptions: The Mediating Role of Physical Fitness.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPerceived physical competence (e.g. perceived motor skills, perceived athletic competence) is hypothesised to mediate the association between actual motor competence and physical activity in children, and this mediated association is expected to be stronger in older children and adolescents. However, no meta-analyses to date have synthesised the hypothesised mediation effect.
objectivesThe purpose of this study was to systematically identify and synthesise the existing literature on the hypothesised mediation model between actual motor competence, perceived physical competence and physical activity in children and adolescents using structural equation modelling meta-analysis.
methodsFive electronic databases were searched from inception to December 2023 using a range of keywords for actual motor competence, perceived physical competence, physical activity and children/adolescents. Machine learning assisted screening was used to identify studies which reported the association between at least two of the variables in the hypothesised model in children and adolescents aged 4-18 years. One-stage structural equation modelling meta-analysis was used to test the hypothesised model. Moderation analysis was conducted to determine whether any of the model parameters differed as a function of children's age.
resultsA total of 218 reports that reported on 213 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. Results from studies which examined the concurrent association between actual motor competence (gross motor, locomotion, object control), perceived physical competence, and physical activity demonstrated that perceived physical competence only had a small absolute (0.029 ≤ r ≤ 0.034) and relative (16.7-20.6% of total effect) mediating effect on the association between actual motor competence and physical activity. Results from studies which examined lagged associations (11% of included studies) also demonstrated a small bidirectional mediation effect of perceived physical competence. The moderation model demonstrated the mediation effect was significantly stronger in adolescents than children, albeit still weak.
conclusionsPerceived physical competence is not a strong mediator of the association between actual motor competence and physical activity in children and adolescents. Given that the association between perceived physical competence and actual motor competence with physical activity are largely independent, there may be benefits to targeting both motor skills and perceived physical competence to increase engagement in physical activity.
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