Background

Perceived 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.

Objectives

The 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.

Methods

Five 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.

Results

A 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.

Conclusions

Perceived 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.

中文翻译：

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儿童和青少年的实际运动能力、感知身体能力和身体活动：结构方程建模荟萃分析

 背景

感知到的身体能力（例如 感知的运动技能、感知的运动能力）被假设为介导儿童实际运动能力与身体活动之间的关联，并且预计这种介导的关联在年龄较大的儿童和青少年中会更强。然而，迄今为止还没有荟萃分析综合假设的中介效应。

 目标

本研究的目的是使用结构方程建模荟萃分析系统地识别和综合关于儿童和青少年实际运动能力、感知身体能力和身体活动之间假设中介模型的现有文献。

 方法

从建库到 2023 年 12 月，使用一系列关键词检索了五个电子数据库，涉及实际运动能力、感知身体能力、身体活动和儿童/青少年。机器学习辅助筛选用于确定报告假设模型中至少两个变量之间在 4-18 岁儿童和青少年中的关联的研究。一阶段结构方程建模荟萃分析用于检验假设模型。进行节度分析以确定任何模型参数是否随儿童年龄而变化。

 结果

共有 218 份报告了 213 项研究，符合纳入标准并被纳入荟萃分析。检查实际运动能力（粗大运动、运动、物体控制）、感知身体能力和身体活动之间同时关联的研究结果表明，感知身体能力对实际运动能力与身体活动之间的关联只有很小的绝对 （0.029 ≤ r ≤ 0.034） 和相对 （16.7-20.6%） 中介效应。检查滞后关联的研究结果（占纳入研究的 11%）也表明感知身体能力的双向中介效应很小。调节模型表明，青少年的中介效应明显强于儿童，尽管仍然较弱。

 结论

感知到的身体能力并不是儿童和青少年实际运动能力与身体活动之间关联的有力中介。鉴于感知的身体能力和实际运动能力与身体活动之间的关联在很大程度上是独立的，因此同时针对运动技能和感知的身体能力以增加对身体活动的参与可能是有益的。