Coordination and Gender Influences on the Perceived Competence of Children

Abstract

Perceived competence and global self-worth of children who were poorly coordinated (n = 68) and children who were well-coordinated (n = 62) were examined. Measures of perceived athletic and scholastic competence, social acceptance, physical appearance, behavioral conduct, and global self-worth were obtained using Harter’s (1985) Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC). Girls and boys, ages 8 to 12, were categorized as poorly coordinated or well-coordinated using their scores on the McCarron (1982) Neuromuscular Development battery. Univariate analyses, using a 2 × 2 design (Coordination × Gender), showed a main effect of coordination in all domains, with the poorly coordinated group having the lower mean scores. In the scholastic, behavioral, and global sphere, coordination by gender interactions were influenced by the high perceptions of the well-coordinated girls. The interactions demonstrated for scholastic and global domains also were influenced by the low perceptions of the girls with poor coordination. Self-perceptions were modified by gender and coordination.