The Relationship between Executive Functions and Gross Motor Skills in Rural Children Aged 8–10 Years

Abstract

Considering that cognitive and motor dimensions of human beings grow together, and that primary school age is one of the most important stages of children’s cognitive and motor development, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between executive functions and gross motor skills in rural children aged 8–10 years. This descriptive and correlational research was conducted with 93 Iranian rural primary school children aged 8 to 10 years. A Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) questionnaire and the Test of Gross Motor Development, second edition (TGMD-2) were used to collect data on executive functions and gross motor skills, respectively. The results showed that most of the correlations between criterion and predictor variables were moderate. In the regression results we observed that among the components of executive functions, inhibition, working memory, planning/organizing, and organization had a significant relationship with gross motor skills, but no relationship was found between other components and motor skills. As a result, it can be said that in predicting cognitive development and specifically mentioned executive functions, gross motor skills are an important and effective factor among rural children and, given the importance of cognitive development and executive functions in childhood, it seems that by helping to develop their gross motor skills, executive functions will also be strengthened. Finally, possible future studies are addressed, which could investigate the effect of different aspects of motor skill classifications on executive functions.