Reduced Peak Bone Mass in Young Adults With Low Motor Competence.

Although suboptimal bone health has been reported in children and adolescents with low motor competence (LMC), it is not known whether such deficits are present at the time of peak bone mass. We examined the impact of LMC on bone mineral density (BMD) in 1043 participants (484 females) from the Raine Cohort Study. Participants had motor competence assessed using the McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development at 10, 14, and 17 years, and a whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan at 20 years.

The Relationship Between Perceptions of Physical Self-Worth, Subdomain Importance, and Physical Fitness in Adolescents With Low Motor Competence: An Exploratory Study.

Adolescent perceptions of their physical self-worth (PSW) and the component domains draw upon physical attributes, such as motor competence, physical fitness, and self-perceptions, which in turn enhance the desire to engage in physical activity. Whilst these relationships have been researched in populations with typical motor development, little is known of the interplay of these contributors to PSW with those with low motor competence (LMC). Even less is known of how importance placed on particular physical subdomains may be used by the adolescent with LMC to mitigate negative effects on their perceptions of PSW.

Association between Motor Planning and the Frontoparietal Network in Children: An Exploratory Multimodal Study.

Objective: Evidence from adult literature shows the involvement of cortical grey matter areas of the frontoparietal lobe and the white matter bundle, the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) in motor planning. This is yet to be confirmed in children.

Method: A multimodal study was designed to probe the neurostructural basis of childhood motor planning.

Impact of a multimodal exercise program on tibial bone health in adolescents with Development Coordination Disorder: an examination of feasibility and potential efficacy.

Objectives: Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) compromises bone health purportedly due to lower levels of physical activity. The potential of an exercise intervention to improve bone health parameters in adolescents with DCD has not previously been studied. This study thus aimed to determine the impact of a multimodal exercise intervention on bone health in this population at-risk of secondary osteoporosis.

Does level of motor competence affect the associations between identity health and self-perceptions in adolescents?

Background: Adolescence is a particularly important time for the development of self-perceptions and identity as many environmental and personal factors are influential. One relatively unexplored factor is level of motor competence.

Aim: To examine the relationship between identity health and self-perceptions in male and female adolescents with low motor competence (LMC) compared to typically developing (TD) adolescents.

Self-Report Motor Competence in Adolescents Aged 12-18 Years in Regional and Rural Victoria (Australia).

: Poor motor skills are an increasing issue for adolescents in our local communities. In regional Victoria, almost 20% of children starting school in 2018 were considered at risk or developmentally vulnerable in the domain of physical health and wellbeing. : The aim of the current study was to examine factors (how adolescents perceive their fine and gross motor skills, activities of daily living, comparison to peers) of motor competence that may be important to adolescents in regional Victoria, Australia, using the Adolescent Motor Competence Questionnaire (AMCQ).

Characterisation of peripheral bone mineral density in youth at risk of secondary osteoporosis - a preliminary insight.

Objectives: To describe peripheral long bone material and structural differences in youth at risk of secondary osteoporosis across disease-specific profiles.

Methods: Upper- and lower limbs of children and adolescents were scanned at 4% distal and 66% mid-shaft sites using peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography sub-categorised as (1) increased risk of secondary osteoporosis (neuromuscular disorders; chronic diseases; endocrine diseases; inborn errors of metabolism; iatrogenic conditions), (2) low motor competence and (3) non-affected controls.

Results: Children with disease-specific profiles showed a range of bone deficits compared to the control group with these predominantly indicated for neuromuscular disorders, chronic diseases and low motor competence.

Examining complexity in grip selection tasks and consequent effects on planning for end-state-comfort in children with developmental coordination disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

This is the first review to provide both a systematic and meta-analytic approach to characterizing motor planning deficits in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Task complexity appears to be a key factor affecting motor planning in children with DCD. However, the different task-related factors and how they affect motor planning ability has not been examined.

Exploring the influence of self-perceptions on the relationship between motor competence and identity in adolescents.

Background And Aims: A relationship exists between an adolescent's level of motor competence and the health of their identity. As those with low motor competence (LMC) form less healthy identities, the aim of this study was to investigate if self-perceptions mediated the negative impact of LMC on identity health.

Methods: Adolescents (N = 160) completed the Adolescent Motor Competence Questionnaire (AMCQ), Assessment of Identity Development in Adolescence (AIDA) and the Self Perception Profile for Adolescence (SPPA).

The Influence of Motor Competence on Adolescent Identity Health: A Mixed Method Study.

Our identity develops with age, and many impacting factors will determine whether it is healthy or unhealthy. A particularly fragile phase of identity development occurs during adolescence when level of motor competence may be influential, yet is rarely considered. : The purpose of this study was to examine male and female adolescent's perceptions towards their motor competence and identity development.

Motor planning with and without motor imagery in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder.

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) demonstrate inefficient motor planning ability with a tendency to opt for non-optimal planning strategies. Motor imagery can provide an insight to this planning inefficiency, as it may be a strategy for improving motor planning and thereby motor performance for those with DCD. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of end-state-comfort (ESC) and the minimal rotation strategy using a grip selection task in children with DCD with and without motor imagery instructions.

Suboptimal bone status for adolescents with low motor competence and developmental coordination disorder-It's sex specific.

Background: Australian adolescents with low motor competence (LMC) have higher fracture rates and poorer bone health compared to European normative data, but currently no normative data exists for Australians.

Aims: To examine whether there were bone health differences in Australian adolescents with LMC or Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) when compared to typically developing age-matched Australian adolescents.

Methods And Procedures: Australian adolescents aged 12-18 years with LMC/DCD (n = 39; male = 27; female = 12) and an Australian comparison sample (n = 188; boys = 101; girls = 87) undertook radial and tibial peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (pQCT) scans.

Time for change: Fitness and strength can be improved and sustained in adolescents with low motor competence.

Background: There are few exercise interventions focused on adolescents with low motor competence and most interventions are short with little follow up and engagement over time.

Methods And Procedures: Fifty-eight adolescents with low motor competence (39 males, M = 13.6, SD = 1.

Investigating motor planning in children with DCD: Evidence from simple and complex grip-selection tasks.

Several studies suggest that children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) may be able to plan simple movements as well as their peers, but experience increasing difficulties as the movements become complex. The present study aimed to clarify the nature of motor planning in DCD, including a putative deficit, by being the first to investigate motor planning using converging measures of simple and complex motor planning in a single sample of children with DCD. Boys aged between 8 and 12 years with (n = 10) and without DCD (n = 17) completed three commonly used 'simple' (bar grasping, sword, and bar transport tasks) measures and one 'complex' (octagon task) measure of end-state-comfort (ESC), a classic measurement of motor planning ability.

The General Motor Ability Hypothesis: An Old Idea Revisited.

While specific motor abilities have become a popular explanation for motor performance, the older, alternate notion of a general motor ability should be revisited. Current theories lack consensus, and most motor assessment tools continue to derive a single composite score to represent motor capacity. In addition, results from elegant statistical procedures such as higher order factor analyses, cluster analyses, and Item Response Theory support a more global motor ability.

Fatness and Fitness With Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Adolescents.

Context: The relative importance of fitness and fatness with cardiometabolic risk factors is uncertain during the crucial developmental stage of late adolescence.

Objective: We aimed to compare the concurrent influences of cardiorespiratory fitness and fatness in relationship to cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescents from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Cross-sectional analysis was performed on 1128 participants with complete blood pressure (BP) data and 963 participants with complete blood biochemistry at 17 years of age.

Actual competence, rather than perceived competence, is a better predictor of physical activity in children aged 6-9 years.

There is a limited understanding about the relative importance of perceived and actual competence on emergent physical activity levels in children and whether there is a difference in their development and strength between boys and girls. This study used a single-cohort, multiple age group design to monitor physical activity, actual motor competence (AMC) and perceived competence (PC) on four occasions over 18 months in 6-to 9-year-old boys and girls (N = 201). Physical activity was measured by 7-day daily step counts (pedometer) and activity diary.

Please Don't Move-Evaluating Motion Artifact From Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography Scans Using Textural Features.

Most imaging methods, including peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT), are susceptible to motion artifacts particularly in fidgety pediatric populations. Methods currently used to address motion artifact include manual screening (visual inspection) and objective assessments of the scans. However, previously reported objective methods either cannot be applied on the reconstructed image or have not been tested for distal bone sites.

Correction: Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry Compared with Anthropometry in Relation to Cardio-Metabolic Risk Factors in a Young Adult Population: Is the 'Gold Standard' Tarnished?

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Hypermobility and Musculoskeletal Pain in Adolescents.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of generalized joint hypermobility (GJH) in a large cohort of Australian children and determine the associations between GJH and musculoskeletal pain.

Study Design: This is a cross-sectional analysis of the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study. Hypermobility was measured in 1584 participants at 14 years of age using the Beighton scoring system, along with a range of other factors including musculoskeletal pain status.

Breastfeeding and motor development: A longitudinal cohort study.

Background: While there is a large body of work supporting the importance of early feeding practices on cognitive, immunity, behavioural and mental outcomes, few longitudinal studies have focused on motor development. The relationship between duration of breast feeding and motor development outcomes at 10, 14, and 17years were examined.

Methods: Data were obtained from the Western Australian Pregnancy (Raine) Study.

Effects of muscle strength and endurance on blood pressure and related cardiometabolic risk factors from childhood to adolescence.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the evolution of relationships between measures of muscle strength and endurance with individual cardiometabolic risk factors from childhood to late adolescence in a prospective population-based cohort.

Methods: Participants from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study at ages 10, 14 and 17 were analysed, using longitudinal linear mixed model analyses.

Results: Handgrip strength after adjusting for the confounding effects of BMI was positively associated with SBP, but not DBP.

Assessing motor proficiency in young adults: The Bruininks Oseretsky Test-2 Short Form and the McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development.

Currently, only two motor tests have norms extending into young adulthood - the McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development (MAND, McCarron 1997) and the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 (BOT-2, Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005). Research into the motor difficulties in early adulthood and health outcomes has been impeded because there is no agreed gold standard motor test for this group. The purposes of this study were to compare the discrimination accuracy, classification agreement, and predictive values, and gender distribution and prevalence of each test in identifying motor impairment (MI) in relation to DSM-V diagnostic criteria for DCD.

The relationship between motor proficiency and mental health outcomes in young adults: A test of the Environmental Stress Hypothesis.

Growing evidence has highlighted the importance of motor proficiency in relation to psychosocial outcomes including self-perceived competence in various domains, perceived social support, and emotional areas such as anxiety and depression. The Environmental Stress Hypothesis-elaborated (Cairney, Rigoli, & Piek, 2013) is a proposed theoretical framework for understanding these relationships and recent studies have begun examining parts of this model using child and adolescent populations. However, the extent to which the relationships between these areas exist, persist or change during early adulthood is currently unclear.