Zhou Zhaowen, Chen Yiping, Huang Ke, Zeng Feng, Liang Zhenwen, Wang Nan, Chen Zhuoming, Deng Cheng
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Department of Children's Health Care, Zhongshan Torch Development Zone People's Hospital, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China.
BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2024 Dec 4;16(1):238. doi: 10.1186/s13102-024-01028-8.
Physical fitness (PF) is important for children's physical and cognitive development. There is increasing interest in the relationship between physical fitness, and executive function. Since it is unclear which physical fitness component benefits which domain of executive functioning, it's challenging to develop effective physical intervention programs for children with executive functioning disorders. This study aimed to examine the relationship between physical fitness components, and executive function domains.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in 14 kindergartens and recruited 272 preschool children aged 3-6. PF was assessed by the National Physical Fitness Measurement (NPFM), including six physical fitness subtests: 10-m shuttle run test (SRT), standing long jump (SLJ), tennis ball throwing (TBT), double-leg timed hop (DTH) tests, sit-and-reach (SR), and balance beam walking (BBW). Executive function assessments include the dimensional change card sort (DCCS) test, digit span test (DST) and Head-toe-knee-shoulder (HTKS) task, to evaluate cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control respectively.
Results from the Spearman correlations analysis showed a significant association between physical fitness and executive function. The hierarchical linear regression showed that age was the only predictor for cognitive flexibility (β = 0.53, p < 0.01) and working memory (β = 0.53, p < 0.01). For inhibitory control, children with older age (β = 0.52, p < 0.01) and better performance on SRT (β = -0.14, p < 0.01) and SLJ (β = 0.13, p < 0.01) scored higher in the HTKS.
The results indicated physical fitness, especially speed-agility and lower limb strength, is related to inhibitory control in preschool children.
身体素质对儿童的身体和认知发展很重要。人们对身体素质与执行功能之间的关系越来越感兴趣。由于尚不清楚身体素质的哪个组成部分对执行功能的哪个领域有益，因此为患有执行功能障碍的儿童制定有效的身体干预计划具有挑战性。本研究旨在探讨身体素质组成部分与执行功能领域之间的关系。
在14所幼儿园进行了一项横断面研究，招募了272名3至6岁的学龄前儿童。通过国民体质测试（NPFM）评估身体素质，包括六个身体素质子测试：10米往返跑测试（SRT）、立定跳远（SLJ）、掷网球（TBT）、双腿定时跳跃（DTH）测试、坐位体前屈（SR）和平衡木行走（BBW）。执行功能评估包括维度变化卡片分类（DCCS）测试、数字广度测试（DST）和头-趾-膝-肩（HTKS）任务，分别评估认知灵活性、工作记忆和抑制控制。
Spearman相关性分析结果显示身体素质与执行功能之间存在显著关联。分层线性回归显示，年龄是认知灵活性（β = 0.53，p < 0.01）和工作记忆（β = 0.53，p < 0.01）的唯一预测因素。对于抑制控制，年龄较大的儿童（β = 0.52，p < 0.01）以及在SRT（β = -0.14，p < 0.01）和SLJ（β = 0.13，p < 0.01）上表现较好的儿童在HTKS中得分更高。
结果表明，身体素质，尤其是速度敏捷性和下肢力量，与学龄前儿童的抑制控制有关。
