Abstract:
Perceived motor competence refers to a child's understanding, awareness, and beliefs about performing motor skills and also, the effective factors related to it have been investigated. Although the role of motor developmental affordances in children's actual motor competence has been identified, it has not yet been explored in children's perceived motor competence. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the role of motor behavior affordances on the perceived motor competence of 6-year-old children. The research method employed in this study was descriptive-correlational. It was cross-sectional in terms of time and field in terms of data collection. The statistical sample of this research included 192 six-year-old children from preschools in Urmia city, selected using a convenience sampling method. The data collection tool was the perceived motor competence scale questionnaires for young children (Barnett et al. 2015), and developmental provision questionnaire (Floris et al., 2021). The obtained data were evaluated and analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression to determine the relationship and prediction between these variables. The results showed that the components of game material, home characteristics and school characteristics predicted overall perceived motor competence. Therefore, it can be concluded that some components of providing environmental affordances play an important role in the perception of movement competence motor skills in 6-year-old children. Overall, it is suggested that parents, educators, and researchers should consider the effective role of developmental affordances related to game materials, home characteristics, and school characteristics in designing training interventions and studying the perceived motor competence of preschool children.