Effect of play at home and kindergarten of mental and physical development

1996 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 07680112
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 体育学
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: IKUTA Komei Faculty of Health and Sport Science Professor, 健康体育部, 教授 (70012507)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): MURASE Tomohiko Faculty of Health and Sport Science, Assistant Professor, 健康体育部, 助手 (80263333) ; BANDO Takao Faculty of Health and Sport Science, Lecturer, 健康体育部, 講師 (30189732) ; HINOBAYASHI Toshihiko Faculty of Health and Sport Science, Associate Professor, 健康体育部, 助教授 (80156611)
• Project Period (FY): 1995 – 1996
• Keywords: inactive children / physical activity level / upright posture / ceter of foot pressure / erector spinal muscle / kindergarten / indoor activites / outdoor activities

Research Abstract

There has been an unfavorable phenomenon in life-style and physique of recent Japanese children. These include poor posture due to week lumber back muscles, poor flexibility of the hip joint, unable to play with other children, and a lack of interest in outdoor play-activities. We investigated causes of these dramatic changes in recent child life from sociological and physiological view points.
The physiological study of foot-step number using 43 five-year old children revealed that there were two groups of children who walked different distances per day. One group had more than average of 25.8 steps/min and the other had less than the average. The former group was therefore named as an "active group" and the latter group was named as an "inactive group". The physique and BMI between these two groups were not different, but their muscle strength, sports test results, and position of the center of pressure beneath the foot were significantly different. For the muscle strength, back stret ching strength was significantly low for the inactive group, and for the sports test results, a standing broad jump distance was less for the inactive group. These results suggest that the difference in the divelopment of erector spinae muscle which plays a dominant role in control of the trunk is the major cause of difference between the two groups of children, and these results seem to explain the unfavorable trands in recent children.
The sociological study was performed using a survey about play at home and nursery school for 80 six-year old male children. The children were divided into two groups based on the walking step measurement. Results of the survey answered by their mother indicated that inactive children spent a longer time for watching TV,while the active children spent a longer time for riding bicycle. A location of outdoor activities for both groups was mostly parks near their home, and most of the children play with two others. These findings also confirmed that there is indeed the unfavorable trend in their social life style in recent cildren.