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Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are building blocks of more advanced movements, including subdomains of locomotion, object control and balance skills, but limited evidence exists for this three-factor structure. The aim of this study was to examine the structural validity of a three-factor modified test battery of FMS across age and sex in two large samples of preschoolers aged 3-6 years (sample 1: n = 1213, mean age 4.8 (.09); sample 2: n = 1198, mean age 4.3 (.09)). We used a test battery of FMS consisting of movement tasks for locomotion (run, horizontal jump and hop) and object control (catch, overhand throw and kick) from the Test of Gross Motor Development and balance skills (single-leg standing, walking line backward and walking line forward) from the Preschoolers Gross Motor Quality Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to analyse the data. We found support for both a three-factor and a two-factor structure. Measurement invariance testing showed invariance over age and partial scalar invariance over sex. We conclude that our modified test battery is an appropriate measure of young children's FMS across the domains of locomotion, object control and balance, but that locomotion and object control subdomains provide limited unique information.

The quality of the preschool environment may affect preschooler's levels of physical activity and sedentary time. In this paper, we aimed to assess the quality of the preschool movement environment and associations between the movement environment and children's physical activity and sedentary time in Norwegian preschools. A sample of 71 departments within 46 preschools provided data on the Movement Environment Rating Scale (MOVERS). 794 children aged 3–5 years provided accelerometer data (ActiGraph GT3X+). Associations were examined using multivariate pattern analysis. Our results indicate that the movement environment is of minimal quality in Norwegian preschools. We found positive associations for light and moderate intensity physical activity and negative associations for sedentary time with the overall MOVERS score, as well as for several items and sub-scales. Our findings suggest that higher quality of the preschool movement environment is associated with more movement and less sedentary time.

Introduction. There is a dearth of high-quality evidence on effective, sustainable, and scalable interventions to increase physical activity (PA) and concomitant outcomes in preschoolers. Specifically, there is a need to better understand how the preschool context can be used to increase various types of physically active play to promote holistic child development. The implementation of such interventions require highly competent preschool staffs, however, the competence in promoting PA is often low. The main aim of the ACTNOW study is therefore to investigate the effects of professional development for preschool staffs on child PA and developmental outcomes. Methods. The study will be conducted in Norway 2019-2022 and is designed as a two-arm (intervention; control) cluster randomized controlled trail with 7- and 18-month follow-ups. We aim to recruit 60 preschools and 1200 3-5-year old children to provide sufficient power to detect effect sizes between 0.20 and 0.30. The intervention is nested within two levels: the preschool- and the child. Central to the ACTNOW intervention are opportunities for children to engage in a variety of “enriched”, meaningful and enjoyable physically active play that supports the development of the whole child. To this end, the main intervention is a 7-month professional development/education module for preschool staff, aimed to provide them with the necessary capacity to deliver four core PA components to the children (moderate-to-vigorous PA, motor-challenging PA, cognitively engaging play, and physically active learning). We will include a range of child level outcomes, including physical activity, physical fitness, adiposity, motor skills, socio-emotional health, self-regulation, executive function, and learning. At the preschool level, we will describe implementation and adaptation processes using quantitative and qualitative data. Discussion. Professional development of staff and a whole-child approach that integrates PA with cognitively engaging play and learning activities in the preschool setting may provide a feasible vehicle to enhance both physical and cognitive development in young children. ACTNOW is designed to test this hypothesis to provide a sustainable way to build human capital and provide an early solution to lifelong public health and developmental challenges. Trial registration. The study is registered in Clinicaltrials.gov (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04048967?term=actnow&rank=1) 07.08.2019 with identification number NCT04048967.

Background The direction of the longitudinal relationship between physical activity (PA) and fundamental motor skills (FMS) remains unclear. We evaluated the bi-directional, prospective relationships between intensity-specific physical activity (PA) and domain-specific fundamental motor skills (FMS) over 2 years in children attending preschool at baseline. Methods A sample of 230 children (mean age at baseline 4.7 yr, 52% boys) from the 'Sogn og Fjordane Preschool Physical Activity Study' was measured 2 years apart. PA was assessed using ActiGraph accelerometers (GT3X+). FMS were evaluated by a test battery guided by the 'Test of Gross Motor Development 3' and the 'Preschooler Gross Motor Quality Scale'. PA outcomes were total PA (TPA [counts per minute]) and intensity specific PA and sedentary behaviour (SED) (min/day). FMS outcomes were locomotor, object control, and balance skills. Linear mixed model adjusting for potential co-variates was used to evaluate the bi-directional prospective associations between these variables, including the moderating effect of sex and age. Results Baseline total PA, moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), and vigorous PA predicted higher locomotor, object control, and balance skills at follow-up (standardized regression coefficient (β): 0.17 to 0.26, p = 0.002–0.017). Baseline SED predicted lower locomotor skills at follow-up (β: − 0.27, p = 0.012). Baseline light PA did not predict FMS at follow-up. Baseline FMS were not associated with PA or SED at follow-up. Conclusions MVPA was positively associated with development of FMS in young children. In contrast, FMS were not related to future PA levels. Our results suggest promotion of MVPA is important for FMS development in young children.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a seven-month curriculum prescribed physical activity (PA) intervention (the Active Smarter Kids [ASK] intervention) on executive functions in 10-year-old Norwegian children. A linear mixed model was used to analyze data from 971–1,123 fifth grade children at 28 intervention schools and 29 control schools. The intervention constituted three PA elements: PA educational lessons, PA breaks, and PA homework, adding 165 minutes of PA to the mandatory 135 minutes of PA and physical education. There was no effect of the intervention on executive functions in the intention-to-treat analyses. Per protocol analyses (n = 776–850) revealed small effects of the intervention on the composite score of executive functions, cognitive flexibility, and motor skills. Cognitively engaging and coordinative demanding activities/games seem viable options to increase executive functions and possibly improve academic performance in children.

Background: Cross-sectional data have suggested an inverse relation between physical activity and cardiometabolic risk factors that is independent of sedentary time. However, little is known about which subcomponent of physical activity may predict cardiometabolic risk factors in youths.Objective: We examined the independent prospective associations between objectively measured sedentary time and subcomponents of physical activity with individual and clustered cardiometabolic risk factors in healthy children aged 10 y.Design: We included 700 children (49.1% males; 50.9% females) in which sedentary time and physical activity were measured with the use of accelerometry. Systolic blood pressure, waist circumference (WC), and fasting blood sample (total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, fasting insulin) were measured with the use of standard clinical methods and analyzed individually and as a clustered cardiometabolic risk score standardized by age and sex (z score). Exposure and outcome variables were measured at baseline and at follow-up 7 mo later.Results: Sedentary time was not associated with any of the individual cardiometabolic risk factors or clustered cardiometabolic risk in prospective analyses. Moderate physical activity at baseline predicted lower concentrations of triglycerides (P = 0.021) and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (P = 0.027) at follow-up independent of sex, socioeconomic status, Tanner stage, monitor wear time, or WC. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (P = 0.043) and vigorous physical activity (P = 0.028) predicted clustered cardiometabolic risk at follow-up, but these associations were attenuated after adjusting for WC.Conclusions: Physical activity, but not sedentary time, is prospectively associated with cardiometabolic risk in healthy children. Public health strategies aimed at improving children's cardiometabolic profile should strive for increasing physical activity of at least moderate intensity rather than reducing sedentary time. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02132494.

Background There is evidence for weak positive relationships between physical activity, aerobic fitness, and motor skills to executive functions and academic achievement. Studies assessing their relative importance to executive functions and academic performance are lacking. The purpose of this study was to examine the independent associations for moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary time, aerobic fitness, and motor skills with executive functions and academic performance in 10-year-old children. Method A linear mixed model was used to analyze cross-sectional data from 697 children from 57 schools in Norway. Results No relationships were observed between moderate to vigorous physical activity and executive functions or academic performance. The time spent sedentary was related to executive functions (standardized regression coefficient (β) 0.17–0.21, p Conclusions The strongest independent associations were observed for motor skills to executive functions. Sex-specific associations were observed for aerobic fitness and motor skills. Thus, comprehensive physical activity targeted to increase both aerobic fitness and motor skills may have the potential to positively affect executive functions and academic performance.

Objective. To investigate the effect of a seven-month, school-based cluster-randomized controlled trial on academic performance in 10-year-old children. Methods. In total, 1129 fifth-grade children from 57 elementary schools in Sogn og Fjordane County, Norway, were cluster-randomized by school either to the intervention group or to the control group. The children in the 28 intervention schools participated in a physical activity intervention between November 2014 and June 2015 consisting of three components: 1) 90 min/week of physically active educational lessons mainly carried out in the school playground; 2) 5 min/day of physical activity breaks during classroom lessons; 3) 10 min/day physical activity homework. Academic performance in numeracy, reading and English was measured using standardized Norwegian national tests. Physical activity was measured objectively by accelerometry. Results. We found no effect of the intervention on academic performance in primary analyses (standardized difference 0.01–0.06, p N 0.358). Subgroup analyses, however, revealed a favorable intervention effect for those who performed the poorest at baseline (lowest tertile) for numeracy (p = 0.005 for the subgroup ∗ group interaction), compared to controls (standardized difference 0.62, 95% CI 0.19–1.07). Conclusions. This large, rigorously conducted cluster RCT in 10-year-old children supports the notion that there is still inadequate evidence to conclude that increased physical activity in school enhances academic achievement in all children. Still, combining physical activity and learning seems a viable model to stimulate learning in those academically weakest schoolchildren publishedVersion

Inconsistent findings exist for the effect of school-based physical activity interventions on academic performance. The Active Smarter Kids (ASK) study revealed a favorable intervention effect of school-based physical activity on academic performance in numeracy in a subsample of 10-year-old elementary schoolchildren performing poorer at baseline in numeracy. Aiming to explain this finding, we investigated the mediating effects of executive function, behavioral self-regulation, and school related well-being in the relation between the physical activity intervention and child’s performance in numeracy. An ANCOVA model with latent variable structural equation modeling was estimated using data from 360 children (the lower third in academic performance in numeracy at baseline). The model consisted of the three latent factors as mediators; executive function, behavioral self-regulation, and school related well-being. We found no mediating effects of executive function, behavioral self-regulation or school related well-being in the relationship between the ASK intervention and academic performance in numeracy (p ≥ 0.256). Our results suggest that the effect of the intervention on performance in numeracy in the present sample is not explained by change in executive function, behavioral self-regulation, or school related well-being. We suggest this finding mainly could be explained by the lack of effect of the intervention on the mediators, which might be due to an insufficient dose of physical activity. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov registry, trial registration number: NCT02132494.

Changes in cognitive function induced by physical activity have been proposed as a mechanism for the link between physical activity and academic performance. The aim of this study was to investigate if executive function mediated the prospective relations between indices of physical activity and academic performance in a sample of 10-year-old Norwegian children. The study included 1,129 children participating in the Active Smarter Kids (ASK) trial, followed over 7 months. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with a latent variable of executive function (measuring inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) was used in the analyses. Predictors were objectively measured physical activity, time spent sedentary, aerobic fitness, and motor skills. Outcomes were performance on national tests of numeracy, reading, and English (as a second language). Generally, indices of physical activity did not predict executive function and academic performance. A modest mediation effect of executive function was observed for the relation between motor skills and academic performance. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov registry, trial registration number: NCT02132494.