The effect of family's socioeconomic status on the child's hand motor functions and grip strength in school age children aged 7-14

INTRODUCTION: Socioeconomic level is a concept that concerns the social and economic fields and the relations between them. The motor development of the child is affected by many environmental and familial factors, and the socioeconomic level of the family is one of these factors. Grip strength, which has been used for many years as one of the key stones in the evaluation of hand functions, is an important component of our daily activities. Motor skills of the hand is defined as the controlled and smooth manual manipulation of large objects with the simultaneously coordinated work of the hands, arms and fingers, and this skill also reveals the functionality of people in daily life activities. In the present study, it was aimed to evaluate the effect of the socioeconomic level of the family on the child's grip strength and hand motor function in school-age children aged 7-14. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The study was carried out with the voluntary participation of 47 male and 51 female 98 students with no psychological, neurological, and orthopedic background aged between 7-14, enrolled in Baglica Primary and Secondary Schools in Ankara. Socioeconomic levels of the participants were measured with the Socioeconomic Level Scale developed by Bacanlı H. (1990), and the rough grip strength was measured with Jamar Hydraulic Hand Dynamometer. Fine grip strength was measured with the Pinchmeter. The Jebsen Hand Function Test was used to evaluate hand motor skills, and the Edinburgh Hand Preference Questionnaire was used to determine the hand preferences. RESULTS: Except right and left palmar hand grip strength, no statistically significant difference between the groups with different socioeconomic levels in terms of grip strength and hand motor skills. Independent from socioeconomic groups, grip strength increased as age increased. However, no statistically significant relationship was found between the motor skills of the hand and age. When the grip strength was compared in terms of genders, the grip strength of male individuals was found to be higher than that of females, but there was no statistically significant difference between the genders in terms of hand motor skills. In the children aged between 7-10 a significant relationship was found between hand grip strength and socioeconomic status was found. However, such a relationship was not observed for the children aged between 11-14. No significant relationship was found between hand motor skills and socioeconomic level in both age groups. CONCLUSION: A low-level correlation was found between socioeconomic status and grip strength for 7-10 age group. However, no correlation was found for 11-14 age group. For both age groups no correlation was found between socioeconomic status and the motor skills of the hand. Keywords: socioeconomic status, grip strength, hand motor skill