Relationship between the level of motor skill and perceived anxiety before and after practice climbing in Primary School children

Abstract

This study was carried out with the purpose of: (1) Identifying whether age influenced motor skill levels and the anxiety perceived by a group of elementary students before and after making a practice of climbing. (2) Checking the level of motor ability was related to perceived anxiety of the children before and after climbing practice. A sample of 116 public schools was used, between 6 and 10 years of age. A motor skills test and a visual analogue scale of facial drawings suitable for subjects of these ages were used. It was established that the motor ability level of the group significantly improved with the increased age of the subjects (p d» 0.01). We observed significant differences in perceived anxiety in the group before and after scaling (p d» 0.01). The perception of anxiety increased from 2.67 ± 1.56 before practice (value that corresponds to a magnitude of the positive affect scale of facial drawings) to 4.28 ± 1.41 (value that corresponds to a magnitude of the affect scale of neutral facial drawings) when it ended. However, there was a clear trend towards significance (p = -0.07) when the skill level associated with perceived anxiety caused the group to end the climbing practice.

Keywords

• sport climbing
• school age
• motor skill
• anxiety