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Background Perceived school self-efficacy (SE) is an important variable in students’ activities as it affects their motivation and learning. Further, self-efficacy might represent a good predictor of performance, persistence and perseverance. Motor skills and other physical health determinants are extensively debated and linked to cognitive function in children of developmental age. However, inconclusive evidence supports a definitive relationship between perceived school SE and motor skills among schoolchildren. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 6–11-year-old schoolchildren to evaluate the extent by which perceived school SE and physical health determinants were related. Methods A SE questionnaire and motor performance battery tests were administered to primary school pupils recruited from 154 sampled schools of northwest Italy. Perceived SE at school was assessed via 12 items from the Caprara’s questionnaire. Motor performance scores were obtained from motor skill tests: 4 × 10 m shuttle run test, SRT; standing broad jump, SBJ; six-minute walking test, 6MWT. Results A total of 3,962 children (M = 2,019; F = 1943) were studied and 68% were normal weight. Overall, a 58% of the sample perceived a high SE, while, as to gender differences, a greater percentage of females perceived high levels of school SE with respect to any other level (χ2 = 38.93, p < 0.0001). Results from multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that: (i) females perceived higher SE compared to males; (ii) children who performed better in SRT and 6MWT showed higher levels of perceived school SE; (iii) no significant effect was registered for the body weight. Alternative strategies are encouraged to enhance SE through physical education: structured interventions might enhance both complex motor skills and high-order cognitive skills, like SE, in young children.

Source at https://dx.doi.org/10.7752/jpes.2019.s5264 . Non-curricular time spent in school context might provide a potential opportunity to promote physical activity (PA) and enhance children’s health. This study examined the effects of a structured recess intervention over 12 weeks on cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), PA daily levels and anthropometric characteristics, in 2nd and 3rd grade school children. This non-randomized controlled study included 100 children (age, 7.5 ± 0.5 yr, body mass 29.6 ± 6.0 kg, height, 1.25 ± 0.06 m) recruited from two primary schools, which served as intervention (INT) or control (CON). The INT school underwent a 15 min structured and physically active recess 4 times per week for 12 weeks, while the CON school maintained its usual unstructured recess routine. Steps count and PA at different intensities (Light, LPA; moderate, MPA; vigorous, VPA; moderate-to-vigorous, MVPA) during week days (WD) and weekends (WE) were assessed by accelerometry pre- and post-intervention. CRF and anthropometric parameters were also assessed in both conditions. Overall, there was a main effect of time for cardiorespiratory fitness (+ 4%, P = 0.004, pη2 =0.042 ), time spent in LPA (+14.3%, P = 0.015, pη2 = 0.032) and MPA (+28%, P = 0.049 , pη2 = 0.021) during WD, although, we observed no time x group interaction: P = 0.864, pη2 = 0.001, P = 0.363, pη2 = 0.005, P = 0.085, pη2 = 0.016, respectively. We observed no main effect of time for any of the anthropometric measures (P > 0.05 in all cases), steps count, VPA and MVPA during WD and PA measures during WE. Over the 12 weeks of intervention in this study, we observed higher levels of LPA and MPA during WD, and improved cardiorespiratory fitness, however, this was not different between the INT and CON schools. This may suggest that children engage in sufficient amount of PA during recess on their own, suggesting that adults’ effort to increase PA levels can be focused on other parts of the children’s free time spent in school. However, future in-school research may also benefit from evaluating a more precise volume, intensity and type of PA during recess to induce beneficial effects on children’s fitness and anthropometrics.

The 6-minute walking test (6MWT) is a simple assessment tool to evaluate exercise capacity. The result of the test is the distance that a subject can walk at a constant and normal pace within 6 minutes (6MWD) and reflects the aerobic/fitness performance related to walking function. Use of 6MWT has been relevant to assess exercise tolerance either in healthy children or in patients with, heart, lung and metabolic diseases. Our aim was to find 6MWT reference values in healthy Italian children. The 6MWT was performed in 5614 children aged 6-11 years recruited from primary Italian schools. Age related reference percentiles of the covered distance were gender-modeled. A linear and quadratic regression model was used to predict 6MWT performance. Males walked longer distances than females, respectively 598.8±83.9 m vs 592.1±77.6 m (p = 0.0016). According to the regression analysis, 6MWD was positively related to age, gender and height, while it was negatively related to body weight [(6MWD = -160.16 + 93.35× age (years) -4.05× age2 (years) +7.34× gender (m) +2.12× weight (kg) -2.50× height (cm)]. Reference values were established for the 6MWT in healthy children. The age related 6MWD percentiles provided a useful tool in the assessment of capacity in 6-11 year children, in fact they may be helpful to evaluate the effect of a given treatment or rehabilitation program and represent a feasible measure as to prevention within the primary school context. It was found a substantial difference from other countries for 6mwd values. In our study, factors such as age, weight and height were relevant for the prediction of 6MWD, similarly to other studies. Therefore, these variables should be taken into account in context of exercise performance.