The Relationships between Fatness, Physical Activity, and Aerobic Power in Children and Adolescents (2010)

Undergraduate: Amber Chewning

Faculty Advisor: Robert McMurray
Department: Exercise & Sport Science

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Physical activity (PA) has been shown to decrease fatness and increase aerobic power for adults, however this relationship is less clear for children and adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine how age affects the relationships between PA levels, fatness, and aerobic power. Procedures. A sub-sample of 1215 youth ages 8-18 years (603 females and 612 males) was taken from the Cardiovascular Health in Children Study. Skinfold measures (from the tricpes and subscapular sites) were taken to estimate fatness. Aerobic power (VO2max) was predicted from the PWC195 cycle ergometer test. Total PA, moderate PA, vigorous PA, and sedentary activity were estimated from a self-report questionnaire. Results. For all ages, VO2(ffm) increased as fatness decreased for all ages. As sedentary activity increased, fatness increased for all ages. The relationship between total physical activity and VO2(ffm) for both children and adolescents was not significant (R2=.0028; p=.064). However, a trend did exist for adolescents (R2=0.011; p=0.068), but not for children (p=.176). Discussion. The results showed that there was no significant relationship between total physical activity scores, aerobic power, or fatness for both children and adolescents, thus, age did not play a major role in determining the relationships between these variables.