Motor performance influence in social status perceived

Abstract

This study aimed to describe the children and adolescents motor performance in relation to their social status perceived by their colleagues in both sexes, and to check for sex effects in this possible association. The study gathered 300 children and adolescents from the 3rd to 5th year and 40 to 60 grade of elementary school from two public schools, aged between 8 and 14 years. The instruments used were the Motor Battery TGMD-2 and Subjective Scale Social Status. Girls had better motor performance than boys, however, only boys with better motor performance also had higher perceived social status. This situation tells us that boys are more susceptible to social evaluations guided in physical skills than girls so that they can make use of their best motor performance level to increase their popularity at school through sports practices.