TY - JOUR A1 - Fühner, Thea A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Golle, Kathleen A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Effect of timing of school enrollment on physical fitness in third graders JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Timing of initial school enrollment may vary considerably for various reasons such as early or delayed enrollment, skipped or repeated school classes. Accordingly, the age range within school grades includes older-(OTK) and younger-than-keyage (YTK) children. Hardly any information is available on the impact of timing of school enrollment on physical fitness. There is evidence from a related research topic showing large differences in academic performance between OTK and YTK children versus keyage children. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare physical fitness of OTK (N = 26,540) and YTK (N = 2586) children versus keyage children (N = 108,295) in a representative sample of German third graders. Physical fitness tests comprised cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed, lower, and upper limbs muscle power. Predictions of physical fitness performance for YTK and OTK children were estimated using data from keyage children by taking age, sex, school, and assessment year into account. Data were annually recorded between 2011 and 2019. The difference between observed and predicted z-scores yielded a delta z-score that was used as a dependent variable in the linear mixed models. Findings indicate that OTK children showed poorer performance compared to keyage children, especially in coordination, and that YTK children outperformed keyage children, especially in coordination. Teachers should be aware that OTK children show poorer physical fitness performance compared to keyage children. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11710-x SN - 2045-2322 VL - 12 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Fühner, Thea A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Golle, Kathleen A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Age and sex effects in physical fitness components of 108,295 third graders including 515 primary schools and 9 cohorts T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Children’s physical fitness development and related moderating effects of age and sex are well documented, especially boys’ and girls’ divergence during puberty. The situation might be different during prepuberty. As girls mature approximately two years earlier than boys, we tested a possible convergence of performance with five tests representing four components of physical fitness in a large sample of 108,295 eight-year old third-graders. Within this single prepubertal year of life and irrespective of the test, performance increased linearly with chronological age, and boys outperformed girls to a larger extent in tests requiring muscle mass for successful performance. Tests differed in the magnitude of age effects (gains), but there was no evidence for an interaction between age and sex. Moreover, “physical fitness” of schools correlated at r = 0.48 with their age effect which might imply that "fit schools” promote larger gains; expected secular trends from 2011 to 2019 were replicated. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 761 Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-549827 SN - 1866-8364 SP - 1 EP - 13 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fühner, Thea A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Golle, Kathleen A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Age and sex effects in physical fitness components of 108,295 third graders including 515 primary schools and 9 cohorts JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Children’s physical fitness development and related moderating effects of age and sex are well documented, especially boys’ and girls’ divergence during puberty. The situation might be different during prepuberty. As girls mature approximately two years earlier than boys, we tested a possible convergence of performance with five tests representing four components of physical fitness in a large sample of 108,295 eight-year old third-graders. Within this single prepubertal year of life and irrespective of the test, performance increased linearly with chronological age, and boys outperformed girls to a larger extent in tests requiring muscle mass for successful performance. Tests differed in the magnitude of age effects (gains), but there was no evidence for an interaction between age and sex. Moreover, “physical fitness” of schools correlated at r = 0.48 with their age effect which might imply that "fit schools” promote larger gains; expected secular trends from 2011 to 2019 were replicated. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97000-4 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 11 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Nature Portfolio CY - Berlin ER - TY - GEN A1 - Fühner, Thea A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Golle, Kathleen A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Effect of timing of school enrollment on physical fitness in third graders T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Timing of initial school enrollment may vary considerably for various reasons such as early or delayed enrollment, skipped or repeated school classes. Accordingly, the age range within school grades includes older-(OTK) and younger-than-keyage (YTK) children. Hardly any information is available on the impact of timing of school enrollment on physical fitness. There is evidence from a related research topic showing large differences in academic performance between OTK and YTK children versus keyage children. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare physical fitness of OTK (N = 26,540) and YTK (N = 2586) children versus keyage children (N = 108,295) in a representative sample of German third graders. Physical fitness tests comprised cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed, lower, and upper limbs muscle power. Predictions of physical fitness performance for YTK and OTK children were estimated using data from keyage children by taking age, sex, school, and assessment year into account. Data were annually recorded between 2011 and 2019. The difference between observed and predicted z-scores yielded a delta z-score that was used as a dependent variable in the linear mixed models. Findings indicate that OTK children showed poorer performance compared to keyage children, especially in coordination, and that YTK children outperformed keyage children, especially in coordination. Teachers should be aware that OTK children show poorer physical fitness performance compared to keyage children. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 800 Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-566933 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 800 ER - TY - THES A1 - Golle, Kathleen T1 - Physical fitness in school-aged children T1 - Motorische Leistungsfähigkeit im Schulkindalter N2 - Physical fitness is an important marker of health that enables people to carry out activities of daily living with vigour and alertness but without undue fatigue and with sufficient reserve to enjoy active leisure pursuits and to meet unforeseen emergencies. Especially, due to scientific findings that the onset of civilization diseases (e.g., obesity, cardiovascular disease) begins in childhood and that physical fitness tracks (at least) into young adulthood, the regular monitoring and promotion of physical fitness in children is risen up to a public health issue. In relation to the evaluation of a child’s physical fitness over time (i.e., development) the use of longitudinally-based percentile values is of particular interest due to their underlined dedication of true physical fitness development within subjects (i.e., individual changes in timing and tempo of growth and maturation). Besides its genetic determination (e.g., sex, body height), physical fitness is influenced by factors that refer to children’s environment and behaviour. For instance, disparities in physical fitness according to children’s living area are frequently reported concerning the fact that living in rural areas as compared to urban areas seems to be more favourable for children’s physical fitness. In addition, cross-sectional studies found higher fitness values in children participating in sports clubs as compared to non-participants. However, up to date, the observed associations between both (i.e., living area and sports club participating) and children’s physical fitness are unresolved concerning a long-term effect. In addition, social inequality as determined by the socioeconomic status (SES) extends through many areas of children’s life. While evidence indicates that the SES is inversely related to various indices of child’s daily life and behaviour like educational success, nutritional habits, and sedentary- and physical activity behaviour, a potential relationship between child’s physical fitness and the SES is hardly investigated and indicated inconsistent results. The present thesis addressed three objectives: (1) to generate physical fitness percentiles for 9- to 12- year-old boys and girls using a longitudinal approach and to analyse the age- and sex-specific development of physical fitness, (2) to investigate the long-term effect of living area and sports club participation on physical fitness in third- to sixth-grade primary school students, and (3) to examine associations between the SES and physical fitness in a large and representative (i.e., for a German federal state) sample of third grade primary school students. Methods (i/ii) Healthy third graders were followed over four consecutive years (up to grade 6), including annually assessment of physical fitness and parental questionnaire (i.e., status of sports club participation and living area). Six tests were conducted to estimate various components of physical fitness: speed (50-m sprint test), upper body muscular power (1-kg ball push test), lower body muscular power (triple hop test), flexibility (stand-and-reach test), agility (star agility run test), and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) (9-min run test). (iii) Within a cross-sectional study (i.e., third objective), physical fitness of third graders was assessed by six physical fitness tests including: speed (20-m sprint test), upper body muscular power (1-kg ball push test), lower body muscular power (standing long jump [SLJ] test), flexibility (stand-and-reach test), agility (star agility run test), and CRF (6-min run test). By means of questionnaire, students reported their status of organized sports participation (OSP). Results (i) With respect to percentiles of physical fitness development, test performances increased in boys and girls from age 9 to 12, except for males’ flexibility (i.e., stable performance over time). Girls revealed significantly better performance in flexibility, whereas boys scored significantly higher in the remaining physical fitness tests. In girls as compared to boys, physical fitness development was slightly faster for upper body muscular power but substantially faster for flexibility. Generated physical fitness percentile curves indicated a timed and capacity-specific physical fitness development (curvilinear) for upper body muscular power, agility, and CRF. (ii) Concerning the effect of living area and sports club participation on physical fitness development, children living in urban areas showed a significantly faster performance development in physical fitness components of upper and lower body muscular power as compared to peers from rural areas. The same direction was noted as a trend in CRF. Additionally, children that regularly participated in a sports club, when compared to those that not continuously participated in a sports club demonstrated a significantly faster performance development in lower body muscular power. A trend of faster performance development in sports club participants occurred in CRF too. (iii) Regarding the association of SES with physical fitness, the percentage of third graders that achieved a high physical fitness level in lower body muscular power and CRF was significantly higher in students attending schools in communities with high SES as compared to middle and low SES, irrespective of sex. Similar, students from the high SES-group performed significantly better in lower body muscular power and CRF than students from the middle and/or the low SES-group. Conclusion (i) The generated percentile values provide an objective tool to estimate childrenʼs physical fitness within the frame of physical education (e.g., age- and sex-specific grading of motor performance) and further to detect children with specific fitness characteristics (low fit or high fit) that may be indicative for the necessity of preventive health promotion or long term athlete development. (ii) It is essential to consider variables of different domains (e.g., environment and behavior) in order to improve knowledge of potential factors which influence physical fitness during childhood. In this regard, the present thesis provide a first input to clarify the causality of living area and sports club participation on physical fitness development in school-aged children. Living in urban areas as well as a regular participation in sports clubs positively affected children´s physical fitness development (i.e., muscular power and CRF). Herein, sports club participation seems to be a key factor within the relationship between living area and physical fitness. (iii) The findings of the present thesis imply that attending schools in communities with high SES refers to better performance in specific physical fitness test items (i.e., muscular power, CRF) in third graders. Extra-curricular physical education classes may represent an important equalizing factor for physical activity opportunities in children of different SES backgrounds. In regard to strong evidence of a positive relationship between physical fitness - in particular muscular fitness/ CRF - and health, more emphasis should be laid on establishing sports clubs and extra-curricular physical education classes as an easy and attractive means to promote fitness-, and hence health- enhancing daily physical activity for all children (i.e. public health approach). N2 - Die motorische Leistungsfähigkeit (LF) ist eine bedeutsame Determinante eines ganzheitlich ausgerichteten Verständnisses von Gesundheit. Sie ermöglicht es dem Individuum Alltagsaktivitäten mit Kraft und Aufmerksamkeit durchzuführen, ohne übermäßige Ermüdung und mit genügend Reserven, um Freizeitaktivitäten nachzugehen und belastende und unvorhersehbare Situationen zu meistern. Verbunden mit der Evidenz, dass ein Großteil der heutigen Zivilisationskrankheiten (z. B. Adipositas, Herzkreislauferkrankungen) ihren Ursprung in der Kindheit haben und das relative Niveau der motorischen LF (zumindest) bis in das junge Erwachsenenalter hin stabil ist, etabliert sich die kontinuierliche Erfassung und Förderung motorischer Fitness im Kindesalter zu einem primären volkswirtschaftlichen Gesundheitsziel. In Verbindung mit der Erfassung der motorischen LF von Kindern über die Zeit (d. h. Entwicklung) ist der Nutzen Längsschnitt basierter Perzentilwerte aufgrund der Detektion von individuellen Leistungsentwicklungen (d. h. zeit- und frequenzspezifische Variationen in Wachstum und Reifung) von Relevanz. Neben der genetischen Determination (z. B. Geschlecht, Körperhöhe), wird die motorische LF auch durch Verhaltens- und Umweltfaktoren beeinflusst. Unterschiede in der motorischen LF in Abhängigkeit von der Wohngegend wurden häufig diskutiert. Es scheint, dass das Aufwachsen in der Stadt, im Vergleich zu auf dem Land, für die motorische LF von Vorteil ist. Des Weiteren weisen Querschnittsstudien auf eine bessere motorische Leistung von Sportvereinsmitgliedern im Vergleich zu Nicht-Mitgliedern hin. Die gefundenen Zusammenhänge beider Faktoren (d. h, Wohngegend und Sportvereinsmitgliedschaft) mit der motorischen LF wurden bisher aber noch nicht hinsichtlich eines Ursache-Wirkungs-Verhältnisses untersucht. Soziale Ungleichheit, u. a. determiniert über den sozioökonomischen Status (SES), findet sich in vielen Lebensbereichen von Kindern wieder. Während gut belegt ist, dass der SES negativ mit Lebens- und Verhaltensindikatoren wie Bildungserfolg, Ernährungsgewohnheiten und Bewegungsverhalten korreliert, ist ein Zusammenhang mit der infantilen motorischen LF kaum untersucht und wenn, mit inkonsistenten Ergebnissen. Mit Bezug auf die Kohorte “Grundschüler/innen” widmet sich die vorliegende Arbeit der Realisierung von drei Zielstellungen: (i) Der Erstellung von alters- und geschlechtsspezifischen Perzentilen (d. h. Normwerte) zur Entwicklung der motorischen LF (d. h. Normwerte) und inbegriffenen Analysen zum Einfluss von Alter und Geschlecht. (ii) Der Klärung eines möglichen Einflusses von Wohnort und Sportvereinsmitgliedschaft auf die motorische LF. (iii) Der Klärung eines möglichen Zusammenhanges zwischen dem SES und der motorischen LF. Methodik (i/ii) Im Längsschnitt-Design wurden Schülerinnen und Schüler (SuS) der dritten Jahrgangsstufe (JST) einmal jährlich über vier Jahre hinweg (d. h. bis JST 6) in ihren motorischen Leistungen getestet. Die motorische Leistungserfassung beinhaltete sechs Testaufgaben: Schnelligkeit (50-m Sprint), Schnellkraft der oberen Extremität ([o. Extr.], Vollballstoß), Schnellkraft der unteren Extremität ([u. Extr.], Dreier Hopp), Beweglichkeit (Rumpfbeuge), Koordination unter Zeitdruck ([Koordination], Sternlauf) und Ausdauer (9-min Lauf). Mittels elterlichem Fragebogen wurde die Mitgliedschaft in einem Sportverein (ja/nein) sowie der Wohnort (Stadt/Land) der SuS erfasst. (iii) Im Rahmen einer Querschnittsstudie absolvierten SuS der JST 3 sechs motorische Testaufgaben: Schnelligkeit (20-m Sprint), Schnellkraft der o. Extr. (Medizinballstoß), Schnellkraft der u. Extr. (Standweitsprung), Beweglichkeit (Rumpfbeuge), Koordination (Sternlauf) und Ausdauer. Zusätzlich wurden die SuS zur Aktivität im organisierten Sport befragt (Sportverein und/oder Schulsportarbeitsgemeinschaft [Sport-AG]: ja/nein). Ergebnisse (i) Die motorische LF der initial 9-jährigen Jungen und Mädchen (JST 3) steigerte sich bis zum 12. Lebensjahr (JST 6). In der Beweglichkeit wiesen die Testleistungen der Jungen keine Leistungsentwicklung aus (d. h. konstante Leistung). In allen Jahren erzielten Mädchen bessere Leistungen in der Beweglichkeit, wohingegen die Jungen in den übrigen motorischen Leistungsbereichen besser abschnitten. Mit Blick auf die Entwicklung der motorischen LF über die Zeit zeigte sich eine marginal schnellere Leistungsentwicklung der Mädchen im Vergleich zu den Jungen in der Schnellkraft (o. Extr.) und der Koordination sowie eine deutliche schnellere Leistungsentwicklung in der Beweglichkeit. Die erstellten Perzentilkurven detektierten eine zeit- und fähigkeits-, nicht aber geschlechtsspezifische Entwicklung der motorischen LF (kurvenförmige Leistungsentwicklung in der Schnellkraft der o. Extr., Koordination und Ausdauer. (ii) Im zeitlichen Verlauf steigerte sich die motor. LF von SuS, die in der Stadt lebten gegenüber SuS aus ländlichen Regionen schneller (d. h., Schnellkraft der o. und u. Extr., tendenziell: Ausdauer). Immer-Sportveinsmitglieder zeigten gegenüber Nie-Mitgliedern eine schnellere Entwicklung in ihrer motor. LF (d. h. Schnellkraft u. Extr., tendenziell: Ausdauer). (iii) Der Anteil an SuS, die ein hohes motorisches Leistungslevel erreichten (d. h. Schnellkraft u. Extr., Ausdauer) war höher in der Gruppe mit hohem SES im Vergleich zur Gruppe mit mittlerem und niedrigem SES. Similar, students from the high SES-group performed significantly better in lower body muscular power and CRF than students from the middle and/or the low SES-group. Schlussfolgerung (i) Die erstellten Perzentile/Normwerte bieten ein Instrument zur objektiven Bewertung der motorischen LF und ihrer Entwicklung im Sportunterricht (d. h. alters- und geschlechtsspezifische Benotung der motorischen Leistung). Darüber können SuS mit spezifischen Leistungsausprägungen (z. B. geringe/hohe motorische Leistung) identifiziert werden und somit eine erste Indikation zur Bewegungsförderung oder einem langfristigen Leistungsaufbau im Sport gegeben werden. (ii) Im Zusammenhang mit einem verbesserten Kenntnisstand zu potentiellen Einflussfaktoren auf die infantile motorische LF, ist es bedeutsam Variablen verschiedener Lebensbereiche in wissenschaftlichen Studien zur motor. LF zu berücksichtigen. Daran anknüpfend präsentiert die vorliegende Arbeit erste Erkenntnisse zum Einfluss von Wohngegend und Sportvereinsmitgliedschaft auf die Entwicklung der motorischen LF im Schulkindalter. Das Aufwachsen in der Stadt sowie eine kontinuierliche Mitgliedschaft im Sportverein haben einen positiven Einfluss auf die Entwicklung motorischer Leistungen (d. h. Schnellkraft und Ausdauer). Die Mitgliedschaft im Sportverein scheint eine positive Schlüsselrolle (d. h. Mediator) in der Beziehung zwischen Wohngegend und motorischer LF einzunehmen. (iii) Kinder, die Schulen in Gemeinden mit hohem SES besuchten erzielten bessere motorische Leistungen (d. h. Schnellkraft und Ausdauer). Mit Blick auf die deutlichen Hinweise eines positiven Zusammenhangs zwischen der motorischen LF – insbesondere Ausdauer- und Kraft determinierte Komponente – und der Gesundheit, sollte ein größerer Schwerpunkt auf die Gründung/Einrichtung von Sportvereinen und Sport-AGs gelegt werden als ein attraktives und ungezwungenes Setting zur Förderung gesundheitswirksamer körperlicher Aktivität für alle Kinder. KW - physical fitness KW - school-aged children KW - living area KW - sports club participation KW - socioeconomic status KW - motorische Leistungsfähigkeit KW - Grundschüler/innen KW - Wohngegend KW - Sportvereinsmitgliedschaft KW - sozioökonomischer Status Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-85949 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Golle, Kathleen A1 - Mühlbauer, Thomas A1 - Wick, Ditmar A1 - Granacher, Urs T1 - Physical Fitness Percentiles of German Children Aged 9–12 Years BT - findings from a Longitudinal Study N2 - Background Generating percentile values is helpful for the identification of children with specific fitness characteristics (i.e., low or high fitness level) to set appropriate fitness goals (i.e., fitness/health promotion and/or long-term youth athlete development). Thus, the aim of this longitudinal study was to assess physical fitness development in healthy children aged 9–12 years and to compute sex- and age-specific percentile values. Methods Two-hundred and forty children (88 girls, 152 boys) participated in this study and were tested for their physical fitness. Physical fitness was assessed using the 50-m sprint test (i.e., speed), the 1-kg ball push test, the triple hop test (i.e., upper- and lower- extremity muscular power), the stand-and-reach test (i.e., flexibility), the star run test (i.e., agility), and the 9-min run test (i.e., endurance). Age- and sex-specific percentile values (i.e., P10 to P90) were generated using the Lambda, Mu, and Sigma method. Adjusted (for change in body weight, height, and baseline performance) age- and sex-differences as well as the interactions thereof were expressed by calculating effect sizes (Cohen’s d). Results Significant main effects of Age were detected for all physical fitness tests (d = 0.40–1.34), whereas significant main effects of Sex were found for upper-extremity muscular power (d = 0.55), flexibility (d = 0.81), agility (d = 0.44), and endurance (d = 0.32) only. Further, significant Sex by Age interactions were observed for upper-extremity muscular power (d = 0.36), flexibility (d = 0.61), and agility (d = 0.27) in favor of girls. Both, linear and curvilinear shaped curves were found for percentile values across the fitness tests. Accelerated (curvilinear) improvements were observed for upper-extremity muscular power (boys: 10–11 yrs; girls: 9–11 yrs), agility (boys: 9–10 yrs; girls: 9–11 yrs), and endurance (boys: 9–10 yrs; girls: 9–10 yrs). Tabulated percentiles for the 9-min run test indicated that running distances between 1,407–1,507 m, 1,479–1,597 m, 1,423–1,654 m, and 1,433–1,666 m in 9- to 12-year-old boys and 1,262–1,362 m, 1,329–1,434 m, 1,392–1,501 m, and 1,415–1,526 m in 9- to 12-year-old girls correspond to a “medium” fitness level (i.e., P40 to P60) in this population. Conclusions The observed differences in physical fitness development between boys and girls illustrate that age- and sex-specific maturational processes might have an impact on the fitness status of healthy children. Our statistical analyses revealed linear (e.g., lower-extremity muscular power) and curvilinear (e.g., agility) models of fitness improvement with age which is indicative of timed and capacity-specific fitness development pattern during childhood. Lastly, the provided age- and sex-specific percentile values can be used by coaches for talent identification and by teachers for rating/grading of children’s motor performance. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 282 Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-86613 ER -