Motor abilities and physical self-efficacy in obese and non-obese youth,

AIM: To analyse the relationship between physical abilities and self-efficacy in 41 boys (mean ± SD age 11.37 ± 0.49 years, height 150.34 ± 7.24 cm, weight 47.27 ± 11.78 kg) and 37 girls (mean ± SD age 11.49 ± 0.51 years, height 152.89 ± 4.79 cm, weight 48.96 ± 9.58 kg), and to check the possible differences by gender and body weight. METHODS The Physical Self-Efficacy Scale (TSEM, Bortoli e Robazza, 1997) and age-appropriate field-based tests of standing long jump (SLJ), Sargent performance (ST), 2 Kg medicine ball throw (MBT), basketball throw (BT), 20-m sprint from a standing position (20-m) and slalom dribbling (Sd) were administered to the participants. The internationally accepted cut off points published by Cole et al. (2000) have been adopted in order to determine predictable values of body mass index (BMI) for overweight (>25) and obesity (>30) in adult age. Participants were categorized into non-overweight (NOW, boys: n=24; girls: n=21) and overweight/obese (OW/OB, boys: n=17; girls: n=16) groups according to age and sex specific BMI values as mentioned before.RESULTS: ANOVA 2 (sex) x 2 (group) revealed significant differences by gender in all motor tests with males performed better than females. Significant differences by group emerged in MBT and BT tests with NOW partecipants scored lower than their OW/OB counterparts. Significant main effects between sex and group were also found on 20-m test: follow-up with the Scheffé test indicated that NOW males differed from NOW and OW/OB females. MANOVA on TSEM scores yielded significant main effects for gender with males showed higher scores compared with females. Pearson’s product-moment correlations revealed significant relationships (p<.01) between the six motor-performance tests, between BMI and MBT, BMI and BT, and between TSEM and SLJ, TSEM and 20-m, TSEM and Sd. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that increased weight positively affect arm-specific activities and motor tasks not requiring horizontal propulsion and vertical lifting of the body mass, and offer methodological indications about more convenient activities in the early stages of a Physical Education program for obese subjects.