Applying the bioecological theory to the study of fundamental motor skills*

Background: This study applied the Person-Process-Context-Time model based on Bioecological theory to investigate the sociocultural influences on motor skill development. Purpose: The objectives of the present study were: (a) to assess the personal resources associated with the development of motor skills of children from three different geographic regions located in Northeastern Brazil; and, (b) to identify the factors in the microsystems (i.e. schools and in the state-funded sports programs) and mesosystems (i.e. interrelations between contexts) that contribute to the development of motor skills in children, and how more distal systems, the exosystems (i.e. department of education and sports) and macrosystem (i.e. school funding; public educational policy; legislation; regional culture) influence this process in each geographic region. Research design: The Test of Gross Motor Development-2 was used to assess the motor performance of 274 economically underprivileged children from three different geographic regions, semiarid (n = 66), mountainous (n = 104), and coastal (n = 104) regions of Brazil. The principal investigator of this study conducted non-participant observations, the interviews with the physical education (n = 15) and classroom (n = 17) teachers, and the children's assessments. The Collective Subject Speech method was used to analyze the teachers' interviews. Data collection and analysis: Teachers and children were interviewed and assessed, respectively, at the schools. Researcher ecological insertion was adopted to understand contextual factors further. Qualitative data was obtained through observation and interviews. Data reduction for the interviews was obtained using the Key Expression, Central Ideas, and Anchorages. Children's motor scores were analyzed using a three-way ANOVA (sex (boys and girls) x geographic regions (semiarid, mountainous, and coastal) x microsystem) for locomotor and object control skills. To follow up the significant interactions, post hoc tests using simple effects (One-Way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc) followed by appropriate cell-to-cell comparisons (Independent T-Test) were conducted. Results: The results indicate a prevalence of delays in the total sample (percentile < 5 at the TGMD-2). Higher motor scores were observed for children enrolled in sports compared to physical education programs. Girls had limited opportunities to learn sports skills and consequently, demonstrated poorer motor scores within the microsystems from the three regions. The interviews revealed that teachers did not feel adequately trained, had limited resources and facilities, and scarcely met the children's developmental needs. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the educational policies and the teachers' lack of training were the primary restrictions related to promoting opportunities for children to learn motor skills within the investigated regions.