european college of sport science

QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN 4TH GRADE STUDENTS.
IONA T., AMMENDOLIA, A., MINGANTI, C., CAPRANICA, L., PIACENTINI, M.F.
UNIVERSITY OF CATANZARO
PP-HF14 Health and Fitness 14
Introduction: Physical activity in childhood is important as it may establish physical and psychological health benefits, but declines in
children’s physical activity are evident (Biddle 2004). The prevalence of overweight, measured by body mass index (BMI) at or above the
95th percentile for children, adolescents, and young adults of the same age and sex has increased dramatically, from 4% among those
aged 6 to 11 years and 5% among those aged 12 to 19 years in 1963 to 1966 to 15% in 1999 to 2000 (Ogden 2002). Recommended physical
activity guidelines (AAHPERD Publications 2004) differ according to age group: for children 5 and older (school-aged youth), children
should accumulate 60 minutes to several hours of age-appropriate moderate to vigorous physical activity on 5 or more days of the week.
The purpose of the present research was to study the quantity and quality of physical activity in 4th grade children of southern Italy and
correlate it with anthropometric data, specific ability tests and rural or urban area’s life.
Methods: One-hundred-ninety-six 8-9 years old Italian children engaged only in the 2-hr school (S) physical activity (n=96) or in additional
extra-scholastic (n=100) sport (ES) activities were tested. Informed consent was obtained from each child and his/her parent(s) after explaining
the purpose of the research and its contents. Anthropometric measures and EUROFIT and hip tests were collected following a
standard protocol (Weiner and Lourie,1981). A MANOVA verified differences (p