Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 6;9(12):1908.
doi: 10.3390/children9121908.

Development of a German Physical Literacy Assessment for Children in the Context of Health Promotion-An Explorative Approach

Leonie Krenz  1 , Martin Grauduszus  1 , Marlen Klaudius  1 , Isabel Stolz  1 , Stefanie Wessely  1 , Christine Joisten  1
Affiliations

Development of a German Physical Literacy Assessment for Children in the Context of Health Promotion-An Explorative Approach

Leonie Krenz et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Addressing physical literacy (PL) has become increasingly relevant to counteract sedentary behaviour in children and youth. We developed an assessment tool to measure and evaluate the promotion of individual PL and its four subdomains: motivation and confidence (the affective dimension), physical competence (physical dimension), knowledge and understanding (cognitive dimension), and participation in physical activity. Within this cross-sectional study, we tested 567 children aged 6−12 years from four primary schools that differed in socioeconomic status (SES). A subsequent exploratory factor analysis conducted to examine the conformity revealed a five-factor structure. The five factors explained 39.8% of the total cumulative variance. Children with a low SES yielded lower scores in all subdomains except participation in physical activity. This effect was most pronounced in motor skills (p < 0.001, r = 0.28). Among the children with a low SES, 16.9% were overweight and 17.4% were obese, compared to 11.5% and 5.4%, respectively, for those with a high SES (p < 0.001). In conclusion, although the assessment tool was largely in line with the postulated structure, further adjustments are necessary in terms of participation and motivation. Nevertheless, this holistic view of PL, taking SES into account, should enable the focused promotion of health and health literacy.

Keywords: children and adolescents; health literacy; physical activity; physical literacy; socioeconomic status.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Theoretical model as a basis for the assessment tool [30].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Activity pyramid to measure participation: lower level—everyday life (left active = light intensity, right inactive); middle level—leisure time (left active = moderate intensity, middle non-medial, right digital); upper level—sports = high intensity.
Figure 3
Figure 3
6-point smiley analogue scale, ranging from the happiest (‘very, very happy’) to the saddest smiley (‘not at all happy’).
Figure 4
Figure 4
‘Confidence’ and ‘practice and try again’ items to measure self-efficacy.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Scoring of the subdomains and weighted composition of the overall assessment of PL; the maximum achievable score is shown for each case.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Guthold R., Stevens G.A., Riley L.M., Bull F.C. Global trends in insufficient physical activity among adolescents: A pooled analysis of 298 population-based surveys with 1·6 million participants. Lancet Child Adolesc. Health. 2020;4:23–35. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(19)30323-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Krug S., Finger J.D., Lange C., Richter A., Mensink G. Sport-und Ernährungsverhalten bei Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland–Querschnittergebnisse aus KiGGS Welle 2 und Trends. Robert Koch-Institut; Berlin, Germany: 2018.
    1. Lindqvist A.K., Rutberg S. One Step Forward: Development of a Program Promoting Active School Transportation. JMIR Res. Protoc. 2018;7:e123. doi: 10.2196/resprot.9505. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rossi L., Behme N., Breuer C. Physical activity of children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic—A scoping review. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2021;18:11440. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111440. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Finger J.D., Varnaccia G., Borrmann A., Lange C., Mensink G. Körperliche Aktivität von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland—Querschnittergebnisse aus KiGGS Welle 2 und Trends. Epidemiologie und Gesundheitsberichterstattung; Robert Koch-Institut; Berlin, Germany: 2018.

LinkOut - more resources