Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Gross Motor Skills and Psychiatric Disorders

Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology published research on the gross motor performance and physical fitness of children with psychiatric disorders. One hundred children (81 boys and 19 girls with a mean age of 9 yrs 11 months) were divided into three subgroups: emotional disorders (17 children), behavioral disorders (44 children) and pervasive developmental disorders (39 children). The children completed the Test of Gross Motor Development and Motor Performance Test. The results indicated that "the mean gross motor performance scores of the BD and PDD group were significantly (p<0.05) lower than the score of the emotional disorders group". In all three subgroups, physical fitness was poor. The subgroup with PDD showed a high correlation between locomotion and object control and between locomotion and physical fitness.

Reference: EMCK, C., BOSSCHER, R. J., VAN WIERINGEN, P. C., DORELEIJERS, T. and BEEK, P. J. , Gross motor performance and physical fitness in children with psychiatric disorders. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, no. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2010.03806.x



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