@phdthesis{Arntz2023,
  author    = {Arntz, Fabian},
  title     = {Intervention and moderation of physical fitness in children with physical fitness deficits - Results of the SMaRTER study},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-62260},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-622607},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {169},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Background: Physical fitness is a key aspect of children's ability to perform activities of daily living, engage in leisure activities, and is associated with important health characteristics. As such, it shows multi-directional associations with weight status as well as executive functions, and varies according to a variety of moderating factors, such as the child's gender, age, geographical location, and socioeconomic conditions and context. The assessment and monitoring of children's physical fitness has gained attention in recent decades, as has the question of how to promote physical fitness through the implementation of a variety of programs and interventions. However, these programs and interventions rarely focus on children with deficits in their physical fitness. Due to their deficits, these children are at the highest risk of suffering health impairments compared to their more average fit peers. In efforts to promote physical fitness, schools could offer promising and viable approaches to interventions, as they provide access to large youth populations while providing useful infrastructure. Evidence suggests that school-based physical fitness interventions, particularly those that include supplementary physical education, are useful for promoting and improving physical fitness in children with normal fitness. However, there is little evidence on whether these interventions have similar or even greater effects on children with deficits in their physical fitness. Furthermore, the question arises whether these measures help to sustainably improve the development/trajectories of physical fitness in these children. The present thesis aims to elucidate the following four objectives: (1) to evaluate the effects of a 14 week intervention with 2 x 45 minutes per week additional remedial physical education on physical fitness and executive function in children with deficits in their physical fitness; (2) to assess moderating effects of body height and body mass on physical fitness components in children with physical fitness deficits; (3) to assess moderating effects of age and skeletal growth on physical fitness in children with physical fitness deficits; and (4) to analyse moderating effects of different physical fitness components on executive function in children with physical fitness deficits. Methods: Using physical fitness data from the EMOTIKON study, 76 third graders with physical fitness deficits were identified in 11 schools in Brandenburg state that met the requirements for implementing a remedial physical education intervention (i.e., employing specially trained physical education teachers). The fitness intervention was implemented in a cross-over design and schools were randomly assigned to either an intervention-control or control-intervention group. The remedial physical education intervention consisted of a 14 week, 2 x 45 minutes per week remedial physical education curriculum supplemented by a physical exercise homework program. Assessments were conducted at the beginning and end of each intervention and control period, and further assessments were conducted at the beginning and end of each school year until the end of sixth grade. Physical fitness as the primary outcome was assessed using fitness tests implemented in the EMOTIKON study (i.e., lower body muscular strength (standing long jump), speed (20 m sprint), cardiorespiratory fitness (6 min run), agility (star run), upper body muscular strength (ball push test), and balance (one leg balance)). Executive functions as a secondary outcome were assessed using attention and psychomotor processing speed (digit symbol substitution test), mental flexibility and fine motor skills (trail making test), and inhibitory control (Simon task). Anthropometric measures such as body height, body mass, maturity offset, and body composition parameters, as well as socioeconomic information were recorded as potential moderators. Results: (1) The evaluation of possible effects of the remedial physical education intervention on physical fitness and executive functions of children with deficits in their physical fitness did not reveal any detectable intervention-related improvements in physical fitness or executive functions. The implemented analysis strategies also showed moderating effects of body mass index (BMI) on performance in 6 min run, star run, and standing long jump, with children with a lower BMI performing better, moderating effects of proximity to Berlin on performance in the 6 min run and standing long jump, better performances being found in children living closer to Berlin, and overall gendered differences in executive function test performance, with boys performing better compared to girls. (2) Analysing moderating effects of body height and body mass on physical fitness performance, better overall physical fitness performance was found for taller children. For body mass, a negative effect was found on performance in the 6 min run (linear), standing long jump (linear), and 20 m sprint (quadratic), with better performance associated with lighter children, and a positive effect of body mass on performance in the ball push test, with heavier children performing better. In addition, the analysis revealed significant interactions between body height and body mass on performance in 6 min run and 20 m sprint, with higher body mass being associated with performance improvements in larger children, while higher body mass was associated with performance declines in smaller children. In addition, the analysis revealed overall age-related improvements in physical fitness and was able to show that children with better overall physical fitness also elicit greater age-related improvements. (3) In the analysis of moderating effects of age and maturity offset on physical fitness performances, two unrotated principal components of z-transformed age and maturity offset values were calculated (i.e., relative growth = (age + maturity offset)/2; growth delay = (age - maturity offset)) to avoid colinearity. Analysing these constructs revealed positive effects of relative growth on performances in star run, 20 m sprint, and standing long jump, with children of higher relative growth performing better. For growth delay, positive effects were found on performances in 6 min run and 20 m sprint, with children having larger growth delays showing better performances. Further, the model revealed gendered differences in 6 min run and 20 m sprint performances with girls performing better than boys. (4) Analysing the effects of physical fitness tests on executive function revealed a positive effect of star run and one leg balance performance and a negative effect of 6 min run performance on reaction speed in the Simon task. However, these effects were not detectable when individual differences were accounted for. Then these effects showed overall positive effects, with better performances being associated with faster reaction speeds. In addition, the analysis revealed a positive correlation between overall reaction speed and effects of the 6 min run, suggesting that children with greater effects of 6 min run had faster overall reaction speeds. Negative correlations were found between star run effects and age effects on Simon task reaction speed, meaning that children with larger star run effects had smaller age effects, and between 6 min run effects and star run effects on Simon task reaction speed, meaning that children with larger 6 min run effects tended to have smaller star run effects on Simon task reaction speed and vice versa. Conclusions: (1) The lack of detectable intervention-related effects could have been caused by an insufficient intervention period, by the implementation of comprehensive and thus non- specific exercises, or by both. Accordingly, longer intervention periods and/or more specific exercises may have been more beneficial and could have led to detectable improvements in physical fitness and/or executive function. However, it remains unclear whether these interventions can benefit children with deficits in physical fitness, as it is possible that their deficits are not caused by a mere lack of exercise, but rather depend on the socioeconomic conditions of the children and their families and areas. Therefore, further research is needed to assess the moderation of physical fitness in children with physical fitness deficits and, in particular, the links between children's environment and their physical fitness trajectories. (2) Findings from this work suggest that using BMI as a composite of body height and body mass may not be able to capture the variation associated with these parameters and their interactions. In particular, because of their multidirectional associations, further research would help elucidate how BMI and its subcomponents influence physical fitness and how they vary between children with and without physical fitness deficits. (3) The assessment of growth- related changes indicated negative effects associated with the growth spurt approaching age of peak height velocity, and furthermore showed significant differences in these effects between children. Thus, these effects and possible interindividual differences should be considered in the assessment of the development of physical fitness in children. (4) Furthermore, this work has shown that the associations between physical fitness and executive functions vary between children and may be moderated by children's socioeconomic conditions and the structure of their daily activities. Further research is needed to explore these associations using approaches that account for individual variance.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Chan2006,
  author    = {Chan, Yuan-Shuo},
  title     = {Zum Zusammenhang zwischen posturaler Balance und kognitiven bzw. somatischen Faktoren},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-10237},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {Balance ist als die koordinative F{\"a}higkeit anzusehen, die am meisten durch das Sinnes- und Nervensystem determiniert ist. Damit k{\"o}nnte sie als Indikator f{\"u}r Funktionseinschr{\"a}nkungen des Nervensystems - etwa bei Lernst{\"o}rungen - von Wert sein. Aussagen {\"u}ber Zusammenh{\"a}nge zwischen Balance und Kognition werden vielfach diskutiert, sind jedoch noch nicht hinreichend wissenschaftlich gesichert. Hieraus wird die zentrale Zielstellung der Arbeit abgeleitet, das Wissen {\"u}ber somatische und psychische Determinanten von Balance zu erweitern. Betrachtet werden daher bei Vorschulkindern m{\"o}gliche Zusammenh{\"a}nge mit dem Geschlecht, mit den anthropometrischen Parametern K{\"o}rperh{\"o}he und Fußgr{\"o}ße, mit Statikst{\"o}rungen des Beckens und der Intelligenzleistung. An der Studie nahmen insgesamt 201 drei- bzw. vierj{\"a}hrige Kinder sowie 148 f{\"u}nf- bzw. sechsj{\"a}hrige Kinder teil. Die Balancef{\"a}higkeit wurde mit Hilfe einer Kraftmomentenplattform sowie eines klinischen Tests erfasst und mit anthropometrischen Parametern, qualitativen statischen Befunden bzw. den Ergebnissen des BIVA-Intelligenztests nach SCHAARSCHMIDT verglichen. F{\"u}r die Auswertung der Balanceparameter wurden sowohl lineare als auch nichtlineare Verfahren eingesetzt, die zum Teil gegenl{\"a}ufige Trends in Bezug auf Zusammenh{\"a}nge lieferten. Im Ergebnis konnte ein starker Einfluss des Geschlechts nachgewiesen werden. M{\"a}dchen zeigten eine bessere Balanceleistung als Jungen sowohl bei 3-J{\"a}hrigen als auch bei 6-J{\"a}hrigen. Dies wird als Beleg f{\"u}r den geschlechtsspezifischen Vorsprung der sensomotorischen Entwicklung bei den M{\"a}dchen im Alter von 3 bis 6 Jahren angesehen. Außerdem gab es einige Hinweise auf einen Zusammenhang mit der K{\"o}rperh{\"o}he bzw. Fußl{\"a}nge. Ein Zusammenhang mit den Umstellungen des ersten Gestaltwandels wird vermutet. Die Daten sprechen f{\"u}r einen statistisch schwachen Einfluss von St{\"o}rungen der Beckenstatik (Beckenverwringung) auf die Balance bei den Kindern. Es wird vermutet, dass die Verrechnung Balance relevanter Inputs durch nozizeptive Impulse beeintr{\"a}chtig werden kann. Dies k{\"o}nnte Anlass sein, diesen Aspekt bei Funktionsst{\"o}rungen mit zu ber{\"u}cksichtigen. Signifikante Zusammenh{\"a}nge mit Ergebnissen des BIVA-Intelligenztests konnten kaum gefunden werden. Allerdings fallen {\"u}berzuf{\"a}llig viele Mittelwertvergleiche in Richtung der Hypothese aus, erreichen jedoch nicht Signifikanzniveau. Dies k{\"o}nnte ein Hinweis auf einen schwachen Zusammenhang darstellen, der jedoch mit einer gr{\"o}ßeren Gruppe noch best{\"a}tigt werden m{\"u}sste. Weitere Forschung auf diesem Gebiet ist erforderlich. Sollte hinreichende Evidenz erreicht werden k{\"o}nnen, so k{\"o}nnte in der F{\"o}rderung koordinativer F{\"a}higkeiten und insbesondere der posturalen Balance eine wichtige p{\"a}dagogische Reserve liegen.},
  subject      = {Sensomotorik},
  language  = {de}
}