The Relationships among Fundamental Motor Skills, Health-Related Physical Fitness, and Body Fatness in South Korean Adolescents with Mental Retardation

The purpose of this study was to examine the following: (a) the relationships among the latent constructs of fundamental motor skills (FMS), health-related physical fitness (HRF), and observed body fatness in South Korean adolescents with mental retardation (MR); (b) the indirect effect of fundamental motor skills on body fatness when mediated by health-related fitness; and (c) whether the degree of MR and gender affects these relationships. Students ages 13 to 18 years (287 boys and 134 girls) were recruited for the study. Separate structural equation models were estimated based on gender and the level of disability: mild or moderate MR. Group differences in the model structure were not found, so the data were combined and a single model estimated. The results showed that FMS significantly contributed to HRF (standardized effects beta = 0.53), p less than 0.01 and indirectly contributed to decreased body fatness mediated by HRF (-0.27), p less than 0.01. HRF directly contributed to decreased fatness (-0.50), p less than 0.01. The results from this study support the importance of both increased FMS and increased HRF in relation to decreased body fatness. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)