Associated factors with motor development of preschoolers of a public school in João Pessoa, Paraíba

Abstract

Our aim were investigate the motor development prevalence changes in preschool children identifying biopsychosocial factors associated with changes in fine and gross motor development. This exploratory and descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in a public school in João Pessoa-PB with preschoolers from 2 to 6 years old taking children’s mothers as their bias.. Motor development was assessed by the Denver Development Screening Test II, and biopsychosocial variables were investigated through questionnaires applied to the mothers. Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics. With our sample consisting of sixteen children, the results showed that the prevalence of alterations in fine motor development was 31.7%, and in the gross motor it was 15%. Simple (?) Logistic Regression showed that boys were 9.7 times more likely to have a change in gross motor development (p = 0.17), and that there was no association between fine motor development and the variables studied. The male association with the change in gross motor development assumes that cultural aspects have led boys to spent time to activities that do not exploit the global motor repertoire. Therefore, our outcomes point out to the need to stimulate the motor children skills in the preschool and family context.