Lifestyle's Influence on Motor Ability in Early Childhood

According to a study conducted by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology on the motor ability of school-age children, motor ability declined among all age groups when compared to past research. It is important, however, to consider the current situation not only among school-age children, but in early childhood as well as a way of understanding the connection between lifestyle and motor ability. This study tested the motor ability of 5 and 6-year old kindergarten students (181 boys, 164 girls), as well as conducted a survey among guardians and teachers regarding the children's lifestyle. The results of a one-way ANOVA analysis of the survey of guardians which treated motor ability as a dependent variable suggested a meaningful association among a portion of the male sample, but no correlation among the female sample and as a whole did not conclusively indicate lifestyle's influence on motor ability. However, the survey of teachers regarding children's lifestyle did reveal significant inter-group differences, especially among boys, and indicated a connection between lifestyle and motor ability. This suggests the need for further research on the lifestyle of pre-school age children as a part of current efforts to formulate government policy for the improvement of motor ability among elementary and middle school students