Associations between Morphological Characteristics, Motor Abilities and Preparedness for School in Preschool Girls/Povezanosti morfoloških karakteristika, motoričkih sposobnosti i spremnosti za školu kod djevojčica predškolske dobi

Abstract

Abstract

Links between morphological characteristics (MC), motor abilities (MA) and psychological preparedness (PP) for school of preschool girls could help improve the quality of educational work for their teachers. The main goal of the study was to determine the correlation between three sets of data: MA, MC and PP. The randomized sample of preschool girls (N=127), aged 6-7, was examined. Fourteen MCs were measured. To measure MAs of the participants, 18 composite motor tests were adjusted for preschool children, three for each motor dimension: coordination, flexibility, strength, agility, accuracy and balance. Test for School Preparedness (TSS) with five subtests was used in estimating PP. The correlations between MC, MA and PP of preschool girls were determined by the use of both univariate and canonical correlations. The results revealed that all canonical correlations were statistically significant: between MC and MA, MA and PP, as well as MC and PP. However, in spite of its significance, canonical correlation was lowest between MC and PP. One of the hypotheses in explaining this relationship could be the speed of maturity, which is different for preschool girls and boys.  

Key words: anthropometry; correlation; development; growth; preschool children; psychological tests.

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Sažetak

Povezanost morfoloških karakteristika (MC), motoričkih sposobnosti (MA) i psihološke pripremljenosti (PP) za školu kod djevojčica predškolske dobi može pomoći u poboljšanju kvalitete odgojno-obrazovnog rada njihovih odgojitelja. Osnovni cilj istraživanja bio je utvrditi povezanost između tri skupine podataka: MA, MC i PP. Ispitan je slučajni uzorak djevojčica predškolske dobi (N=127), u dobi od 6 do 7 godina. Mjereno je 14 MC. Za mjerenje MA sudionica 18 je kompozitnih motoričkih testova prilagođeno za djecu predškolske dobi, po tri za svaku motoričku dimenziju: koordinacija, fleksibilnost, snaga, agilnost, preciznost i ravnoteža. Test pripremljenosti za školu (TSS) s pet subtestova koristio se u procjeni PP. Korelacije između MC, MA i PP kod djevojčica predškolske dobi određene su i s pomoću univarijatnih i s pomoću kanoničkih korelacija. Rezultati su pokazali da su sve kanoničke korelacije statistički značajne: između MC i MA, MA i PP, kao i MC i PP. Međutim, unatoč svojoj statističkoj značajnosti, kanoničke su korelacije najniže između MC i PP. Jedna od hipoteza u objašnjavanju tog odnosa može biti brzina sazrijevanja, koja je različita kod predškolskih djevojčica i dječaka.

Ključne riječi: antropometrija, korelacija, razvoj, rast, predškolska djeca, psihološki testovi