Abstract
To develop age- and sex-specific physical fitness reference standards and express the age- and sex-related differences using standardized effect sizes for Chinese children and adolescents. A total of 85,535 children and adolescents (48.7% girls) aged 7–18 years were recruited from six geographical divisions of China using a stratified randomized cluster sampling method. Seven physical fitness items including grip strength, standing long jump, 30-s sit-ups, sit and reach, 50-m dash, 20-s repeated straddling, and 20-m SRT were measured following a standardized procedure. Percentile curves for each physical fitness test were calculated using the LMS. Age- and sex-related differences were expressed as standardized effect sizes. We observed that the performance improved with age along with the analyzed percentiles in all tests. Boys had higher values compared to girls in all the physical fitness items except for sit and reach test, where girls showed better performance in all analyzed percentiles. Also, the sex differences increased with ages except sit and reach. There is a need for a differentiated approach in the physical education class in terms of adjustment of physical activity based on sex, level of fitness abilities in China.
Highlights
ResultIt can be observed large differences in high age groups such as over 8 years for grip strength and standing long jump
To develop age- and sex-specific physical fitness reference standards and express the age- and sexrelated differences using standardized effect sizes for Chinese children and adolescents
We developed 20 m-shuttle run test norms for Chinese children and a dolescents[16], while reference values are scarce for a comprehensive set of physical fitness tests
Summary
It can be observed large differences in high age groups such as over 8 years for grip strength and standing long jump. Boys had considerably better performances than girls in grip strength, standing long jump, and 50-m dash across all ages and along with the analyzed percentiles. While the advantages of boys at 7 years old slightly declined since girls at this age performed better in 30-s sit-ups below P60, 20-m SRT at P10 and 20-s repeated straddling at most of the percentiles. Large differences can be observed for grip strength, standing long jump, 50-m dash, and 20-m SRT over 13 or 14 years old, from which the increased sex differences with age can be obtained
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