The results indicate that exercise has positive short-term effects on self-esteem in children and young people. Since there are no known negative effects of exercise and many positive effects on physical health, exercise may be an important measure in improving children's self-esteem. These conclusions are based on several small low-quality trials.
Effect of perceptual motor training on gross-motor skill and self-concept of young children.
Preschool teachers from four different day care centers assessed four-and five-year-old children for deficits in gross-motor skill and self-concept. Forty subjects were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group participated in a 30 minute per day, 5 day per week perceptual-motor training program for 10 weeks, while the control group received no specialized intervention other than their regular classroom activities. Two posttests were administered: Cratty's Six-Category Gross-Motor Test and Goodenough's House, Tree, Person Projective Test. The experimental group performed better on the gross-motor test, but the results were not statistically significant. Analysis of the projective test supported the hypothesis that a perceptual-motor program may improve the self-concept of young children. Specialized intervention with perceptual-motor activities improved self-concept and these results were discussed in relation to recognizing the need for early screening and remediation of perceptual-motor dificits exhibited by preschool children.