2023-04-26 03:30:00
ATS
The motor skills of children and adolescents have remained largely stable over the past 35 years in Switzerland, according to the results of a Zurich study. This observation surprises even the researchers.
It is only for the “dynamic balance” that the situation has worsened for young Helvetii between the ages of seven and 18. For example, test participants have more difficulty jumping over a rope, regardless of their weight, reveals this study from the University and the Pediatric University Hospital of Zurich.
For this study, the results of which are published in the journal Frontiers Public Health, the researchers analyzed data from 1,200 children and adolescents born between 1973 and 2009.
Children today sit longer and move less, study leader Oskar Jenni of Children’s University Hospital Zurich told Keystone-ATS. It is therefore not surprising that their gross motor skills are deteriorating.
No improvement in fine motor skills
Mr Jenni is however surprised that today’s children have achieved the same results as their parents’ generation for the other motor skills tested, given the significant social and cultural changes and new technologies.
“We would have expected them to have better fine motor skills, since they often perform finger and hand movements with computer screens and mice,” he explained.
This finding is difficult to explain. “It seems that humanity has reached its potential,” said Mr Jenni. The same phenomenon is observed in other domains, such as that of intelligence. The number of points obtained during IQ tests thus increased until the 1990s. Since then, we have observed a slowdown in this growth.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1095586
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