The 24-h Movement Compositions in Weekday, Weekend Day or Four-Day Periods Differentially Associate with Fundamental Movement Skills

Prospective Association Between 24-Hour Movement Behaviors and Fundamental Movement Skills in Chinese Preschoolers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Compositional and Reallocation Analysis

BACKGROUND

This prospective observation study explored the association between 24-hour movement behaviors and fundamental movement skills (FMS) in Chinese preschoolers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Four hundred and eighteen preschoolers (226 males; 4.0 [0.6] y old) from Zhuhai, China, completed the device-based physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior measures, and sleep duration was reported by parents at baseline (October 2021 to December 2021). FMS was assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development: Third Edition at 1-year follow-up (October 2022 to December 2022). The compositional analysis and isotemporal substitution were used.

RESULTS

Moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) was positively associated with locomotor skills and ball skills (P < .05), and light physical activity was negatively associated with locomotor skills (P < .05) during the COVID-19 pandemic. FMS improvements were linked to the addition of MVPA at the expense of light physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep. The estimated detriments to FMS were larger in magnitude than the estimated benefits of time reallocation from MVPA to light physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence about 24-hour movement behaviors and FMS during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the importance of participating in MVPA to improve preschoolers' FMS development during the COVID-19 era.

Analysing time-use composition as dependent variables in physical activity and sedentary behaviour research: different compositional data analysis approaches

Recently, there has been a paradigm shift from considering physical activity and sedentary behaviour as "independent" risk factors of health to acknowledging their co-dependency and compositional nature. The focus is now on how these behaviours relate to each other rather than viewing them in isolation. Compositional data analysis (CoDA) is a methodology that has been developed specifically for compositional data and the number of publications using CoDA in physical activity and sedentary behaviour research has increased rapidly in the past years. Yet, only a small proportion of the published studies in physical activity and sedentary behaviour research have investigated the time-use composition as dependent variables. This could be related to challenges regarding the interpretation of the results and the lack of guidelines for deciding which statistical approach to use. Therefore, in this paper, four different approaches for analysing the time-use composition as dependent variables are presented and discussed. This paper advocates that the aim of research should guide how the dependent variable is defined and which data analysis approach is selected, and it encourages researchers to consider analysing time-use components as dependent variables in physical activity and sedentary behaviour research.

Association between childcare movement behaviour compositions with health and development among preschoolers: Finding the optimal combinations of physical activities and sedentary time

Little is known about how wake-time movement behaviour compositions while in childcare relate to children's health and development. This study aimed to use compositional analysis to examine how childcare movement behaviour compositions were associated with standardised body mass index (zBMI) and physical and psychosocial functioning among children in the preschool setting. A total of 405 preschoolers wore accelerometers during childcare hours to measure their moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light intensity physical activity (LPA) and sedentary time. Compositional regression, isotemporal substitution models, and the "Goldilocks" approach was used to examine how wake-time childcare movement behaviour compositions related to each of the outcomes. Engaging in greater LPA relative to MVPA and sedentary time was associated with higher BMI z-scores, replacing sedentary time or time spent in MVPA with LPA was associated with greater physical functioning, and spending more time in sedentary behaviours relative to overall physical activity was related with greater psychosocial functioning. It is not clear what the optimal wake-time movement behaviour composition while in childcare is for health and development; however, LPA and sedentary time while in childcare may have some benefits. More research is needed to aid the development of childcare-specific guidelines for physical activity and sedentary behaviours.

Examining Relationships among Chinese Preschool Children's Meeting 24-Hour Movement Guidelines and Fundamental Movement Skills

Background: Few studies have investigated associations between meeting 24-Hour Movement Guidelines and preschool children’s fundamental movement skills (FMS). This study aimed to investigate the associations between Chinese preschoolers meeting various combinations of the Guidelines and FMS, as well as examining gender differences across those outcomes. Methods: A total of 322 preschool children (181 boys and 141 girls) aged 3−6 years old were recruited from five early-childhood education and care services in China. Children’s 7-day physical activity (PA) was assessed using accelerometry, and screen time (ST) and sleep duration were reported by their parents. FMS were assessed by Test of Gross Motor Development 3. Descriptive statistics and gender differences in children’s meeting the Guidelines and FMS were calculated using t-tests for continuous variables and Chi-square tests for categorical variables. Results: Most preschoolers met the sleep and ST guidelines, but only 22.3% met the PA guidelines; 4% of preschoolers did not meet any of the recommendations, while 9.3% met all three recommendations. Boys reported significantly higher compliance with all combined recommendations. There were positive associations between meeting the PA guidelines and both locomotor (β = 0.49; p < 0.001) and object control skills (β = 0.21; p < 0.001). A significantly positive relationship was identified between meeting PA + sleep guidelines and locomotor skills (β = −0.16; p = 0.02). A significantly negative association was observed between preschoolers’ meeting sleep + ST guidelines and locomotor skills (β = 0.31; p = 0.001). Conclusion: Few preschoolers met all three movement behavior guidelines. The findings suggest that PA levels, especially MVPA, are important for the promotion of FMS. Meanwhile, the impacts of ST and sleep on motor development cannot be neglected.

Weekday and Weekend Physical Activity of Preschool Children in Relation to Selected Socioeconomic Indicators

Physical activity (PA) is as vital for improving the health of young children as it is positively associated with a broad range of psychological, cognitive, and cardio-metabolic outcomes. The aims of this study were to: (1) to assess the level of PA and meeting the WHO recommendations: moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and the number of steps in Polish preschool boys and girls on weekdays and on weekends; (2) to investigate the relationship between selected socioeconomic indicators (self-reported by parents) and PA, including meeting the WHO recommendation for daily MVPA and the number of steps on weekdays and on weekends among Polish preschoolers. Data were collected in the 2017/2018 school year. The study included a total of 522 boys and girls both aged between 5 and 6 years. The ActiGraph GT3X-BT tri-axial accelerometer was used to measure PA. Selected socioeconomic indicators as well as parental body weight and body height were self-reported by parents/caregivers using a questionnaire. In most of the PA indicators analyzed for girls (moderate, vigorous, total MVPA, and steps/day), the averages were higher during the week than during the weekend. Moreover, significantly more boys met the criteria of MVPA, both on weekdays and over the weekend (32.3% boys and 19.2% girls on weekdays and 31.1% boys and 18.1% girls on weekends). Additionally, more boys met the step recommendations, but only on weekends (15.5% boys and 6.6% girls). It was found that if there were two people in a household, there was an almost a three-fold greater chance (adj. OR = 2.94, p = 0.032) of meeting the MVPA criterion with an even stronger association (over fivefold greater chance) in meeting the step recommendation (adj. OR = 5.56, p = 0.033). The differences in the day schedule may potentially contribute with the level of PA in girls. Among the analyzed selected socioeconomic indicators, only the number of people in a household had a significant association on PA.