Relationship between measures of body fat and gross motor proficiency

Abstract

Sought to determine the relationship between body fat and various components of gross motor proficiency. 10 tests of gross motor performance, previously shown by E. A. Fleishman (1964) to be reliable diagnostic indexes of 9 separate gross motor factors, were administered to 56 students in the US Naval School of Diving and Salvage. Six anthropometric indicators of body fat were also obtained from each S. Factor analyses confirmed the structure of the measures of physical proficiency and indicated the presence of a single dimension for body fatness. Tests of the relationships between body fatness and the components of physical proficiency revealed a selective effect where body fatness was significantly related to performance on only 3 of the 9 component measures: dynamic strength, gross body coordination, and stamina. Controlling for S age reduced the magnitude of the correlations by a slight degree but did not otherwise alter the relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)