Relationships among children's muscular strength, neuromuscular control, and resilience

TL;DR

This study examines how muscular strength, neuromuscular control, and resilience are related in children and finds that upper and lower body strength assessments are correlated.

Contribution

The study identifies correlations between upper- and lower-body muscular strength assessments in children and evaluates the reliability of these measures.

Findings

Upper- and lower-body muscular strength assessments showed positive, moderate, and significant correlations.

Push-up performance was a significant predictor of standing broad jump performance in children.

Neuromuscular control and resilience had no meaningful correlations with other assessments.

Abstract

Children who participate in recess interventions demonstrate increased upper- and lower-body muscular strength (MusS), neuromuscular control (NC), and resilience. However, to measure the effectiveness of recess interventions, identifying the relationship between physical and psychological assessments is necessary for reliability and consistency. Therefore, this study explores the relationships and variable predictions among MusS, NC, and resilience assessments in fourth- and fifth-grade children at two time points during one school year.

A total of 164 fourth- and fifth-grade children participated in MusS (standing broad jump, push-ups, single-leg three-hop, and average grip strength), NC (side-step), and resilience (Child and Youth Resilience Measure-Revised) assessments. A single intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated in September (Time 1) and January (Time 2) to evaluate the reliability of each assessment. Next, Pearson product correlations and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to assess outcomes.

Times 1 and 2 had positive, moderate, and significant correlations among the following MusS assessments: standing broad jump and average single-leg three-hop, standing broad jump and push-up, and average single-leg three-hop and push-up (p < 0.01). NC and resilience had no meaningful correlations with the other assessments. Regression analyses further revealed that push-up performance was a significant predictor of standing broad jump performance at Times 1 and 2 (p < 0.001).

MusS assessments were practical, reliable, time-efficient, and low cost for this age group. Therefore, these elements should be taken into consideration to measure the effectiveness of recess or physical activity interventions. In addition, the results revealed correlations between upper- and lower-body MusS assessments. The relationship between the standing broad jump and push-ups highlights the interconnective nature of the upper and lower MusS. This raises the question of why resilience and NC were not related to each other or to MusS assessments. Given the exploratory nature and short duration of this study, further research is needed to validate these findings and to determine whether there are more effective NC and resilience assessments to use with this age group.