ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.

Sec. Exercise Physiology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1615581

Developmental trajectories of balance performance in preschoolers: Age and gender differences for 3-6 years old Chinese children

Provisionally accepted
Ruiyuan  LiRuiyuan Li1*Jiefeng  ZhuJiefeng Zhu2Ruiqin  LiRuiqin Li3Xiaoting  WangXiaoting Wang1Taishan  TianTaishan Tian1Bingjun  WanBingjun Wan1*
  • 1Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China
  • 2Xinzhou Normal University, Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, China
  • 3Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, Shanxi Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Objectives: Preschool age is a critical stage of postural balance development. Compromised stability may impede a child's ability to acquire basic motor skills and, in turn, the capacity to participate in physical activities. However, little information exists on balance in preschool years, few studies have comprehensively evaluated all four balance types. in preschool children. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to assess balance development in a multidimensional way in preschool children and to examine the effect of age and gender on preschool children's balance performance.Methods: A total of 619 children (296 boys and 323 girls; aged 3 to 6 years) from China participated in the present study. Static steady-state, dynamic steady-state, proactive, and reactive balance performance were assessed using the one-leg stand test (OST), 10-meter walk test (10-MWT), functional reach test (FRT), and push and release test (PRT), respectively. Two-way analysis of variance was used to evaluate differences between age and gender groups.The results revealed significant differences in gender for OST (η 2 p = 0.037, p < 0.001), 10-MWT (η 2 p = 0.012, p = 0.007), and FRT (η 2 p = 0.016, p = 0.002). Age positively affected all balance tests, as the OST (η 2 p= 0.336, p < 0.001), 10-MWT (η 2 p = 0.448, p < 0.001), FRT (η 2 p = 0.392, p < 0.001), and PRT (η 2 p = 0.045, p < 0.001). Older preschool children performed better than their younger counterparts in all the tests. No significant interactions between age groups and gender were found.: This study provided age-and gender-specific balance performance data in Chinese preschool children. All various balance types increased with age in this cohort. Static steady-state, dynamic steady-state, and proactive balance develop faster compared to reactive balance. Gender differences in balance already exist at the preschool age. These findings can assist health, physical education, and school professionals in assessing and improving balance in preschoolers using Balance in Chinese preschool children 2 multiple indicators for different types of balance and designing age and gender-appropriate balance tasks.

Keywords: Preschool children, Postural control, Balance ability, gender differences, Age difference

Received: 21 Apr 2025; Accepted: 08 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhu, Li, Wang, Tian and Wan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Ruiyuan Li, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710062, Shaanxi Province, China
Bingjun Wan, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710062, Shaanxi Province, China

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