BODY FAT PERCENTAGE AND HEART DISEASE RISK PERCEPTION IN COLLEGE KINESIOLOGY MAJORS

Abstract

PURPOSE The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the perception of heart attack risk in college men and women is related to their body fat percentage. METHODS Subjects were 38 men and 43 women (mean age = 20.2 yrs.) enrolled in a large university physical fitness class that is mandatory for all kinesiology majors. All subjects completed a questionnaire in which they were asked: “Compared with other persons of your own age and sex, how would you rate your risk of having a heart attack within the next 10 years?” Responses were on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from “1” which indicated “much lower than average” to “5” which represented “much higher than average”. Body fat percentage was assessed using contemporary hydrostatic weighing techniques. RESULTS Results showed that subjects with a risk score of “3” had a mean body fat percentage that was approximately 35.7% higher than those with scores of “2” or “1”. However, when data for each sex were analyzed independently, it became clear that the difference could be entirely attributed to the males. Males with risk scores of “3” or “4” had an average body fat percentage (19.2%) that was 111% greater than those reporting a risk score of “1” (9.2%) (p < .05). There were no significant differences in body fat percentage among risk score categorizations for the women, however, there was also little variability in these values among the women subjects in all risk categorizations. CONCLUSIONS Since there was little variability in the body fat scores of female subjects, we cannot conclusively purport that heart attack risk perception is related to body composition in male kinesiology majors only.