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Family Physical Activities Choice, Parental Views of Physical Activities, and Chinese Preschool Children’s Physical Fitness and Motor Development

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Abstract

The present research examined the effects of family-related factors on how parents perceive and choose physical activities that stimulate their children’s physical fitness and motor development. Using the random sampling approach, a total of 284 4- to 5-year-old children (n = 147 boys; n = 137 girls) were included in the sample. These children’s physical fitness [measured by the Manual of National Physical Fitness Evaluation Standard (China’s Department of General Administration Buren of Sport, 国民体质测定标准手册 (幼儿部分) [The manual of national physical fitness evaluation standard-child version], People’s Sports Press, 2003)], large and fine motor development [measured by the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (Henderson et al., Movement assessment battery for children-2: Movement ABC-2: Examiner’s manual, Pearson, 2007)], and their parents’ attitudes toward physical activities [measured using the items of Parental Attitude toward Physical Activities scale (Wen, T. (2011). 幼儿园体育活动现状与改革的研究 [An investigation research on current situation and reform of physical education in kindergarten]. Master dissertation. Inner Mongolia Normal University)] were assessed. The results showed that parental attitudes positively predicted the performance of two-feet jumping in the physical fitness measurement and negatively predicted the performance of post coins by non-dominant hand in the motor ability test. Children who participated in both competitive and leisure physical activity showed significantly higher scores on the motor ability test than children who only participated in leisure physical activity. The child who participated in both types of physical activity scored significantly higher in tennis ball throwing, catching bean bag, and jumping on mats test. Children who participated in competitive physical activity showed significantly higher scores in tennis ball throwing and jumping on mats. This study provided evidence that family-related factors (e.g., parental attitude towards physical activities and children’s participation in activities) stimulate their children’s physical fitness and motor development among Chinese preschool children. Discussions and implications of the findings about how to provide support for children’s physical fitness and motor development, such as providing children more time for physical activities and more kinds of activities, were included.

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Acknowledgements

The study and the preparation of the manuscript were supported by the project “The Impact of Early Childhood Education Quality on Preschool Children’s Development: A Longitudinal Study” (National Social Science Fund of China; No. BHA180133)”. The authors of this paper deeply appreciate the support.

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  1. University of Macau, Macau, China

    Bi Ying Hu & Zhaowei Kong

  2. Faculty of Education, Shandong Normal University, Wenhua Road 88#, Jinan, China

    Zhongling Wu

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Hu, B.Y., Wu, Z. & Kong, Z. Family Physical Activities Choice, Parental Views of Physical Activities, and Chinese Preschool Children’s Physical Fitness and Motor Development. Early Childhood Educ J 50, 841–853 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01190-5

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