Comparing the impact of recess duration on motor coordination and psychological variables: An exploratory study

Recess serves as a productive environment for children to play independently of adults, which promotes physiological and psychological development. However, current recess durations in schools across the United States (U.S.) are frequently insufficient in providing opportunities for physical activity (PA) to promote developmental improvements. One of the most well-studied evidence-based recess interventions, the LiiNK Project ^® , has demonstrated that when children receive 60 minutes of recess daily, motor coordination (MC) is significantly better than when children receive 30 minutes daily. However, child outcomes are lacking when schools modify the recess intervention duration in older grades to 30 minutes daily while continuing to practice the protocols and procedures from the full intervention. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to explore observed physiological (MC) and psychological (self-esteem and perceived physical ability) differences and associations between fourth and fifth grade children who received a modified version of the LiiNK intervention ( n  = 120) and children who did not receive the modified intervention ( n  = 98) at two-time points in one school year. The Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK) was used to assess MC, while the KID-KINDL self-esteem subscale and the Perceived Physical Ability Scale (PPASC) were used to assess the psychological variables. Grade, sex, race, and body fat percentages were collected to describe any group differences for a better interpretation of the groups. A mixed two-way repeated measures MANOVA analysis identified a between-group PPASC difference (p < 0.001), while the control group reported higher scores at both time points, suggesting a pre-existing group difference rather than a modified intervention change. Further, significant within-subjects time-related improvements were observed for single-leg hop (SH) and sideways stepping (SS), while a significant time-related decline was observed for self-esteem. Lastly, 2 x 2 Pearson chi-square analysis of “Normal-to-Great” and “Below Normal” MQ classifications was conducted separately at each time point. Although there were no significant findings, descriptively, both groups at Time 1 (85.8% of the modified intervention group and 90.8% of control group) were classified as “Normal-to-Great” MQ, improving to 88.3% and 95.9%, respectively, at Time 2. The “Below Normal” MQ classification decreased from 14.2% to 11.7% and 9.2% to 4.1% in the two groups respectively. Overall, these results provide preliminary insights into observed patterns of physiological and psychological outcomes for fourth and fifth grade children with similar recess minutes, but different protocols daily. However, these results provide no evidence that the modified intervention benefits the children any better than having 30 minutes of recess without the modified protocols. Future studies should compare the modified 30-minute intervention with a larger sample of children in the full LiiNK intervention (60 minutes) to assess these same variables, as well as collect the second data point in May instead of February.