Xiaofen Deng Keating

Percentile Values for Muscular Strength Field Tests in Children Aged 6 to 17 Years: Influence of Weight Status

Castro-Piñero, J, González-Montesinos, JL, Mora, J, Keating, XD, Girela-Rejón, MJ, Sjöström, M, and Ruiz, JR. Percentile values for muscular strength field tests in children aged 6 to 17 years: influence of weight status. J Strength Cond Res 23(8): 2295-2310, 2009-The aim of this study was to provide percentile values for 9 different muscular strength tests for Spanish children (1,513 boys and 1,265 girls) aged 6 to 17.9 years. The influence of body weight on the muscular strength level across age groups was also examined. Explosive strength was assessed by the throw ball test (upper body), standing broad jump, and vertical jump tests (lower body). Upper-body muscular endurance was assessed by push ups, bent arm hang, and pull ups tests, and abdominal muscular endurance was assessed by sit ups, curl ups in 30 seconds, and curl ups tests. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Participants were categorized according to the BMI international cut-off values as underweight, normalweight, overweight, and obese. Boys had significantly better scores than girls in all the studied tests, except in the 3 upper-body muscular endurance tests in the 6- to 7-year-old group and in the push ups test in the 8- to 9-year-old group. Underweight and normalweight individuals showed similar strength levels. Both underweight and normalweight children and adolescents had significantly higher performance than their overweight and obese counterparts in the lower-body explosive strength tests and in the push ups test in boys and bent arm hang test in both boys and girls. In conclusion, percentiles values of 9 muscular strength tests are provided. Percentiles values are of interest to identify the target population for primary prevention and to estimate the proportion of adolescents with high or low muscular strength levels. The overweight and obese groups had worse scores than their underweight and normalweight counterparts, whereas the underweight group had a similar performance to the normalweight group.

The Current Often Implemented Fitness Tests in Physical Education Programs: Problems and Future Directions

This paper aims to examine current nationwide youth fitness test programs, address problems embedded in the programs, and possible solutions. The current Fitnessgram, Presidents Challenge, and YMCA youth fitness test programs were selected to represent nationwide youth fitness test programs. Sponsors of the nationwide youth fitness test programs need to (a) carefully examine the efficacy of youth fitness test batteries in promoting student healthrelated fitness, (b) increase the accountability of youth fitness testing, (c) add a written test on student fitness knowledge to the fitness test programs, and (d) select and develop more efficient test items in each test component.

Percentile values for aerobic performance running/walking field tests in children aged 6 to 17 years: influence of weight status

The aim of this study was to provide percentiles values for four different aerobic performance tests in 2752 (1,261 girls) Spanish children aged 6 to 17.9 years. Aerobic performance was assessed by the shuttle run test (20 mSRT), 1-mile, 1/2-mile and 1/4-mile run/walk tests. Height and weight were measured, and body mass index was calculated. Boys had significantly better score than girls in the studied tests in all age groups, except in 1/4-mile test in 6-7 year old children. Underweight children had similar performance than their normalweight counterparts, and underweight boys had better performance than their obese counterparts. Overweight and obese children had lower performance than their normalweight counterparts. Having percentile values of the most used field tests to measure aerobic performance in youth may help to identify children and adolescents at risk for the major chronic diseases, as well as to evaluate the effects of alternative interventions.

The Influence of Physical Education on Physical Activity Levels of Urban Elementary Students

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the role of physical education in shaping physical activity patterns. Seventy-one Hispanic and African American elementary students participated in the study. Students attended one 30- and one 60-min physical education class weekly. Pedometer steps were used to estimate physical activity. Data suggest that students did not engage in enough physical activity on a daily basis to incur health benefits. There were significant step differences in 0-, 30-, and 60-min physical education days, with the most steps occurring on 60-min days. Results from the study suggest physical education may be an important source of physical activity for Hispanic and African American students, especially girls, and may influence participation in physical activity outside of class.

Percentile Values for Running Sprint Field Tests in Children Ages 6–17 Years: Influence of Weight Status

The aim of this study was to provide percentile values for six different sprint tests in 2,708 Spanish children (1,234 girls) ages 6–17.9 years. We also examined the influence of weight status on sprint performance across age groups, with a focus on underweight and obese groups. We used the 20-m, 30-m, and 50-m running sprint standing start and running start tests to assess sprint performance. We calculated body mass index (BMI) using and categorized participants according to the BMI international cut-off for underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese. Boys had significantly better scores than girls in all tests, except for the 30-m running sprint standing start and running start tests in the 6–7-year-old group. The underweight group had significantly better scores than their obese counterparts, whereas there were similar levels between underweight and normal weight individuals. The normal weight group showed a significantly better performance than their overweight and obese counterparts. Overweight boys had significantly better performance than their obese counterparts. In conclusion, the percentiles values of six running tests varied by age and gender. The findings indicated that underweight youth did not have poorer sprint performance, and the obese group had lower scores than their leaner counterparts.

Association of weekly strength exercise frequency and academic performance among students at a large university in the United States.

Abstract Keating, XD, Castelli, D, and Ayers, SF. Association of weekly strength exercise frequency and academic performance among students at a large university in the United States. J Strength Cond Res 27(7): 1988–1993, 2013—The study aimed to examine (a) the association between weekly strength exercise frequency and grade point average (GPA), and (b) the demographic characteristics of weekly strength exercise frequency among undergraduate students at a large southern state university in the United States. Health behavior data (N = 1125) collected by the American College Health Association at the university in 2008 were analyzed. Analysis of variance was used to investigate weekly strength exercise frequency differences in GPA, sex, ethnicity, and year in university. The results revealed that those who more frequently engaged in strength exercise had significantly higher GPA. There was a significant difference in weekly strength exercise frequency by sex and ethnicity. Findings suggest that regular engagement in strength exercise may not only have physical health benefits but is also associated with academic achievement in high education. There is a need to further investigate the mechanism of strength exercise on GPA among university students.

Physical Education Teacher Attitudes toward Fitness Tests Scale: Cross-Revalidation and Modification

This study aimed to provide further evidence of validity and reliability for the Physical Education Teacher Attitudes toward Fitness Tests Scale (PETAFTS), which consisted of affective and cognitive domains. There were two subdomains in the affective domain (i.e., enjoyment of implementing fitness tests and enjoyment of using test results) and one domain in the cognitive domain (i.e., beliefs in the usefulness of test results). Full-time physical education teachers (N = 469) from two southwestern states in the United States participated in the study. Reliability and validity of the scale were examined. Alphas were computed for the entire 16-item scale, the affective and cognitive domains, and the two subdomains, respectively, to test the reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to investigate the construct validity. The commonly used CFA indices, such as the chi square (χ2), the comparative fit index (CFI), the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), the goodness of fit index (GFI), and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), were used to assess the fit of the data to the model. The CFA results suggested that the data from the study did not fit the original model proposed by Keating and Silverman (2004b), resulting in the elimination of item 3. The fitness of the data to the model was improved and deemed acceptable. More studies on the reliability and validity of the scale are needed in the future in order to use the scale with more confidence.

Evaluating the Replicability of Sample Results: A Tutorial of Double Cross-Validation Methods.

Although replication is important to the validity of a study and is endorsed by more and more scholars, few researchers in kinesiology attend to this issue. Some researchers may believe that statistical significance and effect size are the most important statistical issues in their research and thereby may have ignored the importance of result replication. Both significance testing and effect size, however, rarely inform researchers about the likelihood that results will be replicated in different samples drawn from the same population. The primary purpose of this tutorial is to provide readers with information regarding result replicability evaluation, focusing on double cross-validation approaches. This tutorial can also serve as a practical guide for conducting replicability analyses using double cross-validation methods.

Cross-cultural validation of stages of exercise change scale among Chinese college students:

The purpose of the study was to test the cross-cultural concurrent validity of the stages of exercise change scale (SECS) in Chinese college students. The original SECS was translated into Chinese (C-SECS). Students from four Chinese universities (N = 1843) participated in the study. The leisure-time exercise (LTE) questionnaire was used to provide data to test the concurrent validation of the C-SECS. Results indicated an increase in total LTE across the five stages of exercise changes. This study provided evidence of C-SECS cross-cultural concurrent validity.

Determinants of teacher implementation of youth fitness tests in school-based physical education programs

Background: Millions of American children are participating in fitness testing in school-based physical education (PE) programs. However, practitioners and researchers in the field of PE have questioned the need for regular or mandatory youth fitness testing. This was partly because a significant improvement in youth fitness and physical activity (PA) levels has not been demonstrated since the implementation of such tests in the 1950s. Therefore, there is a need to understand fully the role of youth fitness testing in school-based PE programs. Purposes: Given that no data are available to enrich our understanding of the determinants of teacher use of youth fitness tests in PE programs in the USA, this study aimed to identify variables that influence teachers’ use of fitness tests, guided by the theoretical model of Ronis, Yates, and Kirscht for determinants of a repeated behavior (i.e., use of fitness tests in this study). Participants: Full-time PE teachers (n = 325) from 10 states in the USA participated in the study. The average age of the participants was 40.17 years (SD = 10.7). The average elementary and secondary teaching experiences were 6.6 years (SD = 8.5), and 8.2 years (SD = 10.3), respectively. There were 177 (54.6%) females and 146 (45.1%) males. In total, 83% of the participants used various fitness tests. Data collection: The researchers generated an initial survey, guided by survey research theories due to the lack of a pre-validated instrument. The theoretical model of Ronis, Yates and Kirscht, which consisted of three major factors: unreasoned influences, resources or enabling variables, and reasoned influences, provided guidance for the selection of primary factors, the sub-factors in each factor, and items in each sub-factor. The survey was pilot tested through multiple phases to ensure acceptable score reliability and validity. Three approaches were employed to collect the data. First, some surveys were mailed to teachers that the investigators knew directly. Second, PE teacher educators in different states were asked to mail materials to teachers they knew. And third, a PE email list was used to solicit participants. In total, 821 surveys were distributed and 325 were usable. The actual return rate was difficult to determine because some teacher educators failed to record the number of surveys they sent out. Data analysis: The means and standard deviations for each of the three factors in the model of Ronis, Yates and Kirscht were calculated. Negatively worded items were reverse-coded to be consistent with the scoring of the positive items. The higher the score, the stronger the endorsement of the statement/item. Discriminant function (DF) analysis was performed multiple times using different combinations of data sets to explore the determinants thoroughly. Results: The results of the DF analysis suggested that reasoned influence (i.e., intentions of using fitness tests for students, perceived benefits, perceived self-efficacy, and overall attitudes) and resource enabling factors were found to predict if teachers implement fitness tests. No demographic variables were identified as determinants when analyzed with other variables. Conclusions: The results from this study confirmed that there were various determinants of teacher fitness test use and the model of Ronis, Yates and Kirscht could guide the investigation of the repeated behavior – teacher use of youth fitness tests. Among the three factors in the model, reasoned influences and resource enabling factors were the determinants, suggesting test promoters may need to take into consideration those factors when revising the nationally available fitness tests. The data also provided empirical evidence to support the need for youth fitness testing from the teacher perspective.