The Developmental Changes in the Fundamental Motor Ability of Boys 4 to 8 Years of Age

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the developmental changes in the fundamental motor ability of boys 4 to 8 years of age. The fourteen test items, which were picked out of the areas of physipue, physical function and motor ability, were administered to 259 boys 4 to 8 years of age. Principal factor analysis was applied to the correlation matrix of each age which was calculated with these variables, respectively, and the first principal factors were extracted and investigated. Those factors could be interpreted as a fundamental motor ability factor, because of significant loading with all variables. And the fundamental motor ability factor and the degree of contribution of subsets of variables to its variance were investigated in each ate, respectively. The results were summarized as follows: 1)The degree of the contribution of fundamental motor ability factors to total variance decreased as the age grew. In other words, the individual difference of the fundamental motor ability of boys 4 to 8 years of age decreased as the age grew. 2)The proportion of fundamental motor ability area occupied in motor ability decreased as the age grew, while, the proportion of specific motor ability area increased. 3)From the investigation of the changes in factorial structure of motor ability, it was found that the motor ability of boys 4 to 8 years of age advanced from an undifferentiated state to a differentiated state as the age grew. 4)As for the changes in the degrees of contribution of subsets of variables to the variance of fundamental motor ability factor, the degrees of contribution of physique and age variables decreased as the age grew, while, those of static muscular strength and upper and lower explosive strength variables increased.