The interplay of physical, psychological, cognitive, and social capabilities for children’s health-enhancing physical activity

• Applicant: Dr. Johannes Carl
• Subject Area: Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine ; Empirical Social Research ; Educational Research on Socialization, Welfare and Professionalism
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566295410

Physical activity elicits numerous beneficial effects on biopsychosocial health. However, a large proportion of children worldwide do not achieve the recommended levels of physical activity. Although children’s adoption of a healthy, physically active lifestyle depends on physical, affective, psychological, and social capabilities, research does not holistically consider the range of these individual prerequisites. Similarly, practices and policies tend to undermine children’s holistic development for lifelong physical activity by prioritising physical aspects over psychological, cognitive, and social aspects. The concept of physical literacy integrates and balances the physical, psychological, cognitive, and social capabilities to support health-promoting physical activity throughout the lifespan. Underpinned by a recent systematic review exhibiting significant gaps in the literature on physical literacy, the goal of this project is to advance the understanding of the interplay of children’s physical, psychological, cognitive, and social capabilities for physical activity as well as their associations with the outcomes of physical activity behaviour and health. The project addresses five research questions referring to: (i) empirical interrelations between the four physical literacy components; (ii) their developmental trajectories across childhood (age); (iii) their differences between genders and nations; (iv) their associations with physical activity behaviour; and (v) their associations with indicators of health. Methodologically, the project will use the Physical Literacy in Children Questionnaire (PL-C Quest) with its 30 items across four domains to investigate these capabilities in a large-scale data pooling study. The PL-C Quest is a validated self-report instrument for children aged 4-12 years using an innovative, gender-neutral pictorial-based assessment. The project will involve worldwide collaboration with international research groups to pool data and perform comprehensive meta-analyses. The data will be processed and stored securely, adhering to ethical standards and data protection regulations. The anticipated dataset will include over 10,750 children allowing for robust statistical analyses. The clustered data will be examined using multilevel analyses (research questions i-iii) and meta-analytical techniques (research questions iv+v). The expected outcomes include a better understanding of holistic development for physical activity and its impact on physical activity levels and health. In line with the proposed link to the main applicant’s Heisenberg Programme, the advanced understanding can inform more effective interventions and policies to promote active lifestyles among children.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Australia
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Lisa Barnett