Relationship Between Motor Competence and Body Composition Among Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Context and objective: The scientific evidence on the association between motor competence and body composition among children and adolescents. The aim is to review the literature based on the association between motor competence and body composition to answer the question: does body mass index (BMI) has a negative impact on the Körperkoordinations test für Kinder (KTK) performance? Data Sources and Study Selection: A systematic review from 4 electronic databases (i.e., PubMed, ScienceDirect, SciELO, and Scopus) was used to search for research articles. The study had to include the KTK battery test to evaluate motor competence (MC) and BMI for measuring body composition among children and adolescents written in the English language. A total of 7 research articles were included in the review. Synthesis Methods and results: Two authors independently extracted the articles. The analyzed studies suggest that motor competence is negatively associated with body composition among children and adolescents. Thus, children with better BMI should have a higher MC score evaluated with the KTK assessment. Conclusions: The findings suggest that motor competence and body mass index are negatively associated among children and adolescents. Further research should include another type of test for examining motor competence.