Association between body mass index, physical activity and motor competence in children: moderation analysis by different environmental contexts.

Background: Although the association between body mass index (BMI), physical activity (PA) and motor competence (MC) has been widely investigated, the influence of different environmental contexts is not well defined.

Aim: To analyse the relationship between BMI, PA and MC and the moderating role of the environmental context.

Subjects And Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with 668 children (318 boys) aged 5-7 years (north-eastern district - Brazil). MC (Körper koordination test fur Kinder; KTK), BMI and PA (parent reporting) were assessed. To classify three contexts of the environment a variable was created based on the presence of a sports court in school and/or environment for play or sports practice out of school. Multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions, interaction test and estimation of coefficients in moderation analysis were used.

Results: BMI ( = -2.93;  < .01) and age ( = 19.02;  < .01) were associated, and PA was not associated ( = 0.07;  = .05) with MC. The strength of the association between BMI and MC changed based on the environmental contexts. The better the environment context the weaker the association between BMI and MC ( = -2.93,  < .01 to  = -2.38,  = .33 to  = 0.26,  = .94).

Conclusions: The association between BMI and MC is moderated by environmental contexts.