Movement-Based Interventions in Youth: Motor Competence, Cognitive Function, and Health Outcomes in Educational Contexts

The study of human movement in childhood and adolescence has moved beyond a narrow focus on physical performance to include the cognitive, emotional, and health-related consequences of movement behavior. Motor competence, physical fitness, coordination, and physical activity patterns are increasingly understood as important contributors to executive function, psychosocial development, and long-term health.Youth is a key developmental period in which movement experiences may shape cognitive control, motivation, well-being, and health trajectories. However, more evidence is needed on the mechanisms through which movement characteristics — such as intensity, complexity, motor skill quality, and coordination demands — influence cognitive and health outcomes. Movement Science offers an appropriate framework for integrating motor, psychological, physiological, and applied perspectives on these relationships.The objective of this Research Topic is to advance understanding of how movement behavior and motor competence contribute to cognitive and health-related development in children and adolescents. The collection will focus on mechanisms linking physical activity, motor skills, physical fitness, and executive function, as well as the role of movement-based interventions in educational and applied settings.Particular attention will be given to studies that examine how movement characteristics — including coordination, task complexity, intensity, motor skill proficiency, and fitness level — influence cognitive, emotional, psychosocial, and health outcomes. This Research Topic especially welcomes longitudinal studies, intervention trials, mechanistic studies, and work using objective measures of movement, fitness, or motor competence.Areas of interest include, but are not limited to the following:• Motor competence, motor development, and executive function in children and adolescents• Movement complexity, coordination, and cognitive engagement in youth physical activity• Physical fitness, motor skill proficiency, and cognitive-health pathways• School-based movement interventions with objective motor, fitness, or cognitive outcomes• Dose-response relationships between physical activity intensity, duration, task type, and cognitive or health outcomes• Wearable, observational, or biomechanical assessment of movement behavior in youth• Longitudinal links between movement behavior, sedentary patterns, motor competence, and mental health• Movement-based interventions designed to improve executive function, psychosocial development, or health-related fitness• Mechanisms connecting motor control, physical activity, motivation, and well-beingThis Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Reviews and Mini Reviews. Manuscripts focused only on general education, mental health, coaching, or health promotion will be considered only where they include a clear movement-science component, such as motor competence, motor control, physical fitness, movement behavior, physiological response, or objective movement assessment. Topic editors: AMADOR JESUS LARA SANCHEZ, Oliver Ramos-Alvarez Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81167/movement-based-interventions-in-youth-motor-competence-cognitive-function-and-health-outcomes-in-educational-contexts