Psychosocial implications of poor motor coordination in children and adolescents

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-9457(01)00029-XGet rights and content

Abstract

Utilising Harter's theory of competence motivation (Harter, S. The determinants and mediational role of global self-worth in children. In: N. Eisenberg, Contemporary topics in developmental psychology, Wiley, New York, 1987, pp. 219–242.), the current study examined perceived competence and social support, and their influence on self-worth and anxiety in children and adolescents with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD). A group of children aged 8–10 years, and a group of adolescents aged 12–14 years, with significant movement problems were compared with matched control groups on measures of perceived competence, perceived social support, self-worth and anxiety. Those with DCD were found to perceive themselves as less competent in several domains, and having less social support than control participants. Overall, DCD groups had lower self-worth and higher levels of anxiety than the control groups. Adolescents also perceived themselves as less competent with poorer social support and lower self-worth than younger children. In addition, anxiety was significantly higher for the adolescent group compared to their younger counterparts.

Introduction

Increasingly, the importance of motor competence on the psychosocial lives of children has been recognised in the literature. Research has linked poor coordination to attention disorders (Gillberg and Gillberg, 1983, Gillberg et al., 1989, Piek et al., 1999), low self-esteem and poor self-concept (Henderson et al., 1989, Losse et al., 1991, Maeland, 1992, Piek et al., 2000, Schoemaker and Kalverboer, 1994), and emotional disorders (Cratty, 1994, O'Dwyer, 1987, Schoemaker and Kalverboer, 1994). Children with poor motor coordination have also been found to underachieve educationally (Fox, 1997, Gillberg et al., 1983, O'Dwyer, 1987) and to experience difficulties with peer relations (Bouffard et al., 1996, Gubbay, 1975, Schoemaker and Kalverboer, 1994).

The above research indicates poor motor coordination has far-reaching implications for social and emotional functioning. Harter (1987) provides a useful framework for investigating the psychosocial repercussions of DCD. According to Harter, a major goal of achievement behaviour is the feeling of competence. Competence refers to one's level of mastery, which may range from poor to adequate to superior. Children's perceived competence affects their continued interest in an activity and in further mastery attempts. When applied to physical activity, Harter's (1987) theory of competence motivation means that if individuals perceive themselves as physically competent, they will continue to participate in physical activities. If, however, they perceive themselves as physically incompetent, they will limit participation and suspend mastery attempts. In terms of Harter's competence motivation theory, children with poor coordination are likely to experience low perceptions of competence in the physical domain as a consequence of repeated failure at movement skills. If these children avoid motor activities, for fear of failure and peer criticism, then opportunities to practise skills and participate socially will be limited. It is predicted that this would have broad implications on the development of the poorly coordinated child's self-perceptions extending beyond the athletic domain (White, 1959).

There is some indication that this is indeed the case for children with DCD. Using Harter's self-perception profile (Harter, 1985a), children with DCD have been found to have a lower perception of their athletic competence than their peers (Cantell et al., 1994, Losse et al., 1991, Piek et al., 2000, Rose et al., 1997, Schoemaker and Kalverboer, 1994). Some studies have revealed that children with poor motor skills perceive themselves to be less competent than control children on the domain of scholastic competence in addition to athletic competence (Cantell et al., 1994, Piek and Edwards, 1997, Rose et al., 1997). Children and adolescents with DCD have also been reported to have poorer perceptions of their physical appearance than their coordinated counterparts (Losse et al., 1991, Rose et al., 1997). Social acceptance has also been found by some to be lower in children with poor motor coordination (Rose et al., 1997, Schoemaker and Kalverboer, 1994). Schoemaker and Kalverboer (1994) found that children with poor coordination tend to withdraw from social situations in order to prevent failure. This, in combination with negative reactions from peers, was concluded to contribute to lower perceived competence toward social relationships in poorly coordinated children. Others however, have not found a significant difference in perceived social acceptance in poorly coordinated children when compared to their peers (Cantell et al., 1994, Losse et al., 1991, Maeland, 1992, Piek et al., 2000).

Harter (1987) suggested that not only is one's perceived achievements important in determining one's regard for self, but the importance one places on them is also a significant determinant of self-worth. Hence a person's self-worth would depend upon the extent to which a person thought he/she was competent in areas which he/she considered important, measured by the competence/importance discrepancy score on Harter's self-perception profile. Using path analysis to examine the relationship between global self-worth and domain specific evaluations for elementary school children, Harter (1987) found the perceived competence/importance discrepancy to be a strong predictor of self-worth. However Marsh (1986) suggested that using an importance discrepancy score is less than ideal by arguing that a set of specific self-concept domains has much more explanatory power than the discrepancy score.

Harter (1987) also found that acceptance from others was important in determining a child's self-worth. This construct of perceived social support was based on the work of Cooley (cited in Harter, 1987), who postulated that origins of self are primarily social in nature, and our sense of self lies in our perceptions of what others think of us. Social support was operationalised by Harter as the degree to which children felt significant others acknowledged their worth. In order to tap perceived support Harter developed social support scales for children and adolescents, with the most recent version involving the measurement of approval, emotional and instrumental support (Harter & Robinson, 1988). According to Harter (1987), both perceived social support and perceived competence are equally important in determining self-worth, with the contribution of each construct being relatively independent of each other.

Therefore, in order to understand the development of self-worth, it is important to consider social support as well as perceived competencies (Harter, 1987). Whilst several studies cite poor social status and poor peer integration in children with DCD (e.g., Losse et al., 1991, Schoemaker and Kalverboer, 1994), perceptions of social support in these children have received little attention to date. This may partially explain why studies that have investigated global self-worth in children with DCD have produced equivocal findings. Most researchers have failed to find a significant difference in global self-worth between children with poor motor skills and those who are coordinated (Cantell et al., 1994, Maeland, 1992, Piek et al., 2000, van Rossum and Vermeer, 1994).

In line with Harter's (1987) research it is possible that if children with poor motor coordination have good levels of perceived social support, this may buffer the effect of low perceived competence on self-worth. This appeared to be the case in the study by Piek et al. (2000), where children with DCD had lowered self-perceptions in the domain of athletic competence, but there were no differences between the DCD and Control groups for perceived social support or global self-worth. Considering the importance social support may have on a child's self-worth, it is important to assess children with DCD on this construct in addition to perceived competence.

In a study of middle school children, Harter found those who like themselves as people were found to be the happiest, while those who had a less positive view of themselves reported more feelings of sadness and depression. Whilst Harter has explored the link between self-worth and depression, others have utilised Harter's model explore anxiety within the sports arena. For example research indicates that those children anxious about sports performance experience lower self-esteem than the less anxious children (Brustad, 1988, Passer, 1983). For the child with poor motor coordination, negative appraisal from significant others and social comparison with teammates can all add to the milieu of poor self-concept, inaptness and fear of future participation manifesting in symptoms of anxiety.

Few studies have investigated anxiety in children with DCD. Schoemaker and Kalverboer (1994) examined the social and affective concomitants of poor motor coordination in children aged 6 to 9 years. A significant difference was found on state and trait anxiety between the children with poor motor coordination and the control children, with the poorly coordinated children being more anxious. The children were presented with the state-trait anxiety inventory (Spielberger, 1973) prior to motor assessment resulting in a rise in worrying thoughts and emotionality reactions for 33% of the poorly coordinated children. Twenty-two percent of children with poor motor coordination also reported more trait anxiety, a more stable form of anxiety. The authors' inspection of the individual questions revealed that the poorly coordinated children endorsed questions dealing with feelings of shyness, unhappiness and brooding about what other people think of them more frequently than the control children.

Based on Harter's (1987) model of self-worth, the current study investigated the existence of secondary self-concept and anxiety problems in children with DCD in the middle primary school and in those who have made the transition to high school. Participants with and without DCD were compared on the constructs of perceived competence, perceived social support, global self-worth and anxiety in order to provide further knowledge of the psychosocial difficulties faced by those with DCD.

Whilst a number of recent studies have explored the social and emotional impact of DCD on children, fewer studies have investigated the impact of DCD on adolescents. Those that have been conducted on adolescents have been longitudinal in nature where children have been identified in early to mid-childhood. These studies have found that adolescents with DCD experience persistent difficulties in motor skills in addition to behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (Gillberg et al., 1983, Losse et al., 1991, Roussounis et al., 1987). A cross-sectional design was utilised rather than longitudinal, as a previous diagnosis of DCD may confound the age effects. Given the cumulative effect of failed mastery attempts and increasing accuracy of self-judgments as children get older, it is expected that the psychosocial outcome for adolescents with DCD will be poorer than for the younger group of children.

Section snippets

Participants

The 218 participants in the study were selected from seven primary schools and eight high schools in the Perth metropolitan area. The sample comprised two age groups: 58 children with DCD and 58 control children aged 8–10 years; and 51 adolescents with DCD and 51 control adolescents aged 12–14 years. The classification of the participants at both ages was based on performance on the movement assessment battery for children (M-ABC) test (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) and the Wechsler intelligence

Performance on the M-ABC test

Table 2 displays the mean score and standard deviation for the M-ABC test for each group. There was no significant difference across age for the M-ABC test, F(1,216)=0.96,P=0.32.

Of those identified with DCD, 34 children (59%) and 41 adolescents (80%) scored below the 5th percentile on the M-ABC test, and 24 children and 10 adolescents scored between the 6th and 15th percentile.

8–10 year old children

Table 3 displays the mean score on the self-perception profile. Inspection of these means suggests that children in the

Discussion

The current study provided a comprehensive examination of the psychosocial variables comparing children and adolescents with and without DCD. The findings revealed that children and adolescents with DCD have lower self-perceptions and global self-worth than their coordinated peers. Those with DCD consistently viewed themselves as less competent than their peers over many domains, indicating that the group difference for perceived competence may not be specific to the athletic domain. That is,

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Megan Meadows, Marie Trifon and Robyn Willis for their assistance in the initial screening of participants. Also, thanks to Dr Nicholas Barrett for his statistical advice. We are sincerely grateful to the schools, parents and children who were willing to participate in this project.

References (48)

  • A Barnett et al.

    Some observations on the figure drawings of clumsy children

    British Journal of Educational Psychology

    (1992)
  • M Bouffard et al.

    A test of the activity deficit hypothesis with children with movement difficulties

    Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly

    (1996)
  • R.J Brustad

    Affective outcomes in competitive youth sport: The influence of intrapersonal and socialisation factors

    Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

    (1988)
  • Byrne, B. (1996). Measuring self-concept across the life span: Issues and instrumentation. Washington, DC: American...
  • M.H Cantell et al.

    Clumsiness in adolescence: Educational, motor and social outcomes of motor delay detected at 5 years

    Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly

    (1994)
  • B.J Cratty

    Clumsy child syndrome: Descriptions, evaluation and remediation

    (1994)
  • T.C Ely et al.

    Exploring the covariation between anxiety and depression symptoms: A genetic analysis of the effects of age and sex

    Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

    (1999)
  • Evans, J., & Roberts, G. C. (1987). Physical competence and the development of children's peer relations. Quest,...
  • Fox, A. M. (1997). Clumsiness in children. Retrieved April 1998 from World Wide Web: http:// webmaster...
  • R Geuze et al.

    Children who are clumsy: Five years later

    Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly

    (1993)
  • I.C Gillberg et al.

    Three-year follow-up at age 10 of children with minor neurodevelopmental disorders I: Behavioural problems

    Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology

    (1983)
  • I.C Gillberg et al.

    Children with preschool minor neurodevelopmental disorders V: Neurodevelopmental profiles at age 13

    Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology

    (1989)
  • I.C Gillberg et al.

    Three-year follow-up at 10 age of children with minor neurodevelopmental disorders II: School achievement problems

    Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology

    (1983)
  • Gubbay, S. S. (1975). The assessment of the clumsy child, The Clumsy Child (pp. 146–161). London: W.B...
  • S Harter

    Manual for the self-perception profile for children: Revision of the perceived competence scale for children

    (1985)
  • S Harter

    Manual for the self-perception profile for adolescents

    (1985)
  • Harter, S. (1987). The determinants and mediational role of global self-worth in children. In: N. Eisenberg,...
  • Harter, S., & Robinson, N. (1988). The social support scale for older children and adolescents (Revised): Approval,...
  • S.E Henderson et al.

    Concomitants of clumsiness in young schoolchildren

    Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology

    (1982)
  • S.E Henderson et al.

    An exploratory study of goal setting behaviour, self-concept and locus of control in children with movement difficulties

    European Journal of Special Needs Education

    (1989)
  • S.E Henderson et al.

    Movement assessment battery for children

    (1992)
  • B.J Hirsch et al.

    The transition to junior high school: A longitudinal study of self-esteem, psychological symptomology, school life and social support

    Child Development

    (1987)
  • Laszlo, J. I., & Bairstow, P. J. (1985). Assessment of perceptual-motor behaviour. In: J. I. Laszlo, P. J. Bairstow,...
  • R Lord et al.

    Perceptual judgements of normal and clumsy children

    Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology

    (1987)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text