BackgroundThe debate about a possible relationship between aerobic fitness and motor skills with cognitive development in children has recently re-emerged, because of the decrease in children's aerobic fitness and the concomitant pressure of schools to enhance cognitive performance. As the literature in young children is scarce, we examined the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationship of aerobic fitness and motor skills with spatial working memory and attention in preschool children.MethodsData from 245 ethnically diverse preschool children (mean age: 5.2 (0.6) years, girls: 49.4%) analyzed at baseline and 9 months later. Assessments included aerobic fitness (20 m shuttle run) and motor skills with agility (obstacle course) and dynamic balance (balance beam). Cognitive parameters included spatial working memory (IDS) and attention (KHV-VK). All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, BMI, migration status, parental education, native language and linguistic region. Longitudinal analyses were additionally adjusted for the respective baseline value.ResultsIn the cross-sectional analysis, aerobic fitness was associated with better attention (r = 0.16, p = 0.03). A shorter time in the agility test was independently associated with a better performance both in working memory (r = -0.17, p = 0.01) and in attention (r = -0.20, p = 0.01). In the longitudinal analyses, baseline aerobic fitness was independently related to improvements in attention (r = 0.16, p = 0.03), while baseline dynamic balance was associated with improvements in working memory (r = 0.15, p = 0.04).ConclusionsIn young children, higher baseline aerobic fitness and motor skills were related to a better spatial working memory and/or attention at baseline, and to some extent also to their future improvements over the following 9 months.Trial Registrationclinicaltrials.gov NCT00674544

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Several studies show that parents' and teachers' perceptions of children's academic competence are important predictors of children's subsequent academic performance. However, there is a lack of evidence on what precedes these perceptions as well as the dynamics within a comprehensive model. The aim of this study was to investigate the simultaneous influences of child (general intelligence, prohlem behavior) and family (socioeconomic status, migration background) characteristics as well as parents' and teachers' perceptions of children's competence on children's academic performance in a 3-year longitudinal study with 221 children (52% girls) who were 5 to 7 years of age when they were first measured {M = 6.15 years, SD = 0.80 years). Structural equation modehng analyses revealed that parents' and teachers' perceptions of children's competence were positively associated with children's general intelligence and negatively associated with family adversity and child prohlem behavior. Further, parents' perceptions fully mediated the association between family adversity as well as child problem hehavior and academic performance. Teachers' perceptions partially mediated the association between child prohlem hehavior and academic performance.

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Zusammenfassung: Basierend auf der Annahme, dass Schulleistungen sowohl durch kognitive als auch sozial-emotionale Schülermerkmale bedingt sind, untersuchte die vorliegende Studie längsschnittlich anhand einer Stichprobe von 263 Kindern (M Alter = 7.4 Jahre, SD = 0.65 Jahre, Altersspanne 5–10 Jahre; 52 % Mädchen) ob kognitive, sprachliche, mathematische und sozial-emotionale Kompetenzen erfasst anhand der Intelligence Development Scales (IDS) die Schulnoten in den Fächern Mathematik, Deutsch und Sachkunde drei Jahre später vorhersagen können. Die Ergebnisse der Studie zeigten, dass sowohl die kognitiven, als auch die sprachlichen und mathematischen Kompetenzen zuverlässige Prädiktoren für die späteren Schulnoten in allen Fächern darstellten. Darüber hinaus bestätigte die Studie, dass hohe sozial-emotionale Kompetenzen relative Defizite in den kognitiven und sprachlichen Kompetenzen im Hinblick auf die Schulnoten zu kompensieren vermögen.