Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41153594›Full record

ArticleChildren (Basel, Switzerland)2025

Linking Motor Competence to Children's Self-Perceptions: The Mediating Role of Physical Fitness.

Ivan Šerbetar, Jan Morten Loftesnes, Asgeir Mamen

Abstract read
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Article in Children (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Ivan ŠerbetarDepartment of Kinesiology, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Jan Morten LoftesnesDepartment of Education, Art and Sports, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, 6856 Sogndal, Norway.
Asgeir MamenSchool of Health Sciences, Kristiania University of Applied Sciences, 0152 Oslo, Norway.ORCID 0000-0002-4316-7455

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND/

objectivesSelf-perceptions in childhood shape motivation, behavior, and well-being; however, their relationship to motor competence and physical fitness remains unclear. We tested whether physical fitness mediates the association between motor competence and domain-specific self-perceptions in middle childhood.

methodsIn a school-based sample of 100 ten-year-olds (59 girls, 41 boys; 3 exclusions ≤ 5th MABC-2 percentile), children completed MABC-2 (motor competence), EUROFIT (physical fitness), and SPPC (self-perceptions). Principal component analysis of the nine EUROFIT tests yielded two factors: Motor Fitness (agility/endurance/flexibility/muscular endurance) and Strength/Size (handgrip and BMI). Parallel mediation models (MABC-2 → [Motor Fitness, Strength/Size] → SPPC) were estimated with maximum likelihood and 5000 bias-corrected bootstrap resamples. Benjamini-Hochberg FDR (q = 0.05) was applied within each path family across the six SPPC domains.

resultsIn baseline models (no covariates), Motor Fitness → Athletic Competence was significant after FDR (β = 0.263,

conclusionsFunctional Motor Fitness, but not Strength/Size, showed small-to-moderate, domain-specific links with children's Athletic (and, when adjusting for adiposity, Scholastic/Social) self-perceptions; mediated effects were small and not FDR-supported. Findings highlight the salience of visible, functional performances (e.g., agility/endurance tasks) for children's self-views and support PE approaches that foster diverse motor skills and motor fitness. Because the study is cross-sectional and BMI-adjusted analyses are presented as robustness checks, caution should be exercised when interpreting the results causally.

Indexed as

childrenMABC-2mediationmotor competencephysical fitnessself-perception

Identifiers

PMID41153594
PMCPMC12564408

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