This question examined the relationship between motor capabilities and social skills, and problem behaviour. To investigate the associations between motor capabilities in kindergarten and social behaviour Pearson correlations were used to compute these relationships between two sets of variables. The results indicate that there were significant associations between mo-tor capabilities and social behaviour variables. Coordination MLS4 inserting pins test raw scores “Stifte einstecken” according to parents’ reports is correlated negatively with total so-cial skills5 (r=.36; p=.00) and social cooperation (r=-.44; p=.00) and correlated positively with attention problem overactive6 (r=. 27; P=. 04). According to reports by teachers, Coordination MLS inserting pins test raw scores is also negatively correlated with social total (r=-.40;
p=.002), social independence (r=-.35; p=.009), social interaction (r=-.31; p =.02) and social cooperation (r=-.38; p=.004). The results show that better social skills scores are associated with better eye–hand coordination ability. Children with attention problems do not perform so well with regard to coordination ability.
4 Lower MLS (Stifte einstecken) MLS inserting pins test scores indicate greater levels of coordination.
5 Higher social skills scores indicate greater levels of social adjustment.
6 Higher overactive scores indicate greater levels of attention problems.
PKBS-2
Girls (Exp)
Post Pre
Mean Std Mean Std T P
Social cooperation 31. 3.4 28.0 5.8 2.389 .03
Social interaction 26. 4.6 22.4 6.6 2.122 .05
Social independence 28. 3.8 28.3 10.8 .065 .94
Social skills total 87. 10.8 78.8 19.4 1.335 .20
Self–centred/explosive 2.7 4.0 5.1 4.2 -1.455 .17
Attention problems/overactive 3.2 2.6 6.5 4.3 -2.743 .01
Antisocial/aggressive .76 1.6 2.0 3.3 -1.348 .20
Total externalizing problem 6.7 7.2 13.7 11.3 -1.942 .07
Social withdrawal 2.4 3.0 4.3 2.9 -1.608 .13
Anxiety/somatic problems 4.3 4.6 5.7 2.9 -1.077 .30
Total internalizing problem 6.7 6.9 10.0 5.1 -1.469 .16
Total-problem behaviour 13.5 13.6 23.8 14.3 -1.894 .08
Balancing standing on one leg7, according to the raw scores in teachers’ reports negatively correlated with total social skills (r=-.39; p=.003), social cooperation (r=-.37; p=.006), social independence (r=-.30 p=.02), social interaction (r=-.34; p=.01). This means that better social skills correlated with better balance ability. Children with better social adjustment can per-form better on balance ability. These results are presented in tables 29 and 30. Furthermore, the results show that raw scores for muscular endurance push-up8 can be positively correlated with total social skills (r=.35; p=.009), social cooperation (r=.37; p=.005), social independ-ence (r=.27; p= .04 ), but negatively with regard to total problem behaviour9 (r=-.31 :p=.02), self–centred/explosive (r=-.38; p=.004), attention problem overactive (r=-.36; p= .007 ) and total externalizing problem (r=-.35 ; p= .00), as reported by parents.
Balancing backward 6cm as reported by teachers is positively correlated with total social skills (r=.42; p=.002), social cooperation (r=.36; p=.006), social independence(r=.31; p=.02) and social interaction (r=.39; p=.003), it is also negatively correlated with social withdrawal10 (r=-, 30; p=.02). Balancing backward 4.5cm11 is also positively correlated with total social skills (r=.40; p=.003), social cooperation(r=.39; p=.003), social interaction (r=.41; p=.002), and negatively correlated with social withdrawal (r=-.33; p= .01), total internalizing problem (r=-.27; p=.04). In addition, Agility12is positively correlated with total social skills (r=.28; p = .03) and social cooperation (r=.30; p=.02) as reported by teachers see table 30. Reaction time13 as reported by teachers is negatively correlated with raw scores for social cooperation (r= -.28; p=.04), social independence, (r=-.28; p=.03) and social total (r= -.27; p=.04), but positively correlated with social withdrawal raw scores (r=.30; p=.02). The current study re-sults reveal that better reaction times are associated with greater social skills. In contrast chil-dren with social withdrawal problems face difficulties in terms of reaction time. Hay &
Missiuna (1998) and Buss et al. (1980) indicated that motor skills may be related to self-efficacy of confidence in physical activity. A study conducted by Piek and colleagues (2008) found that the motor ability of preschool children was positively related to the child’s emotion comprehension.
7 Lower scores for standing one leg indicate greater levels of static balance.
8 Higher push-up scores indicate greater levels of muscular endurance.
9 Higher problem behaviour scores indicate greater levels of problem behaviour.
10 Higher social withdrawal scores indicate greater levels of withdrawal problem.
11 Higher backward scores indicate greater levels of dynamic balance ability.
12 Higher strength endurance side/jump frequencies 15s scores indicate greater levels of agility.
13 Lower reaction time scores indicate greater levels of reaction time ability
Also studies on children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) found that poor motor coordination is associated with low self-esteem and loneliness (Piek et al., 2000;
Schoemaker & Kalverboer, 1994; Skinner & Piek, 2001). It is important to mention that autis-tic child suffer from a lack of social interaction and rapid coordination (Baron-Cohen, 2002;
Belmonte et al., 2004). These characteristics cognitive can be explained some relationships between social behaviour and motor capabilities in the normal and abnormal brain.
The current study investigated the relationship between motor capability and social skills, problem behaviour on normal children who have typical, general, and routine social compe-tences. The current results provide support for the findings researched by Cummins et al.
(2005), Piek et al. (2000), Schoemaker & Kalverboer (1994) and Skinner & Piek (2001).
Cummins et al (2005) observed that children with motor coordination problems are less accu-rate and slower in responding to facial emotion cues. This study has shown that children with greater social competences perform better on motor capabilities, while children with higher levels of problem behaviour perform less well on motor capabilities.
These correlations were only observed in all participations during the pre-tests, in both the control and experimental groups. In addition to this, there were no significant correlations be-tween motor capabilities and social behaviours found after controlling for age and gender.
The discussed relationships were observed without controlling age or gender.
The purpose of this question was to examine the relationship between motor capabilities and social behaviours in order to understand the relationship and how it could lead to the devel-opment of more effective strategies for increasing motor abilities measures in young children.
The researcher recommends further investigation into the relationship between motor capabil-ity and social-emotional development in preschool-age children, because of the limited sam-ple size.
Table 29: Correlation between social competences and motor capabilities N=54 as reported by parents: Correlation between social competences and motor capabilities N=54 as reported by parents
Table 30: Correlation between social competences and motor capabilities N=54 as reported by teacherscompetences and motor capabilities N=54 as reported by teachers