| Abstrakt: |
This study investigated the trends in adiposity over a longitudinal period. The adiposity level of children with similar demographic variables was examined by cohort. Children (n = 1,200) participated in a longitudinal study of growth and performance. Subjects were predominantly middle to upper class and Caucasian. Measurements were performed biannually on 13 growth and 7 motor performance variables. Six cohorts, formed to represent each complete decade of data collection during the study by gender, were 1970s males (n = 2,379) and females (n = 1678), 1980s males (n = 1,853) and females (n = 1,678), and 1990s males (n = 465) and females (n = 405). Cohorts were examined from chronological ages 4 to 19. A MANOVA with repeated measures was used to analyze the differences of body mass index (BMI) and sum of skin folds (SS) between cohorts based on age and gender. Significant differences among cohort BMI values were observed at the p < .05 level for 12- and 15-year-old females, as well as 16-year-old males. For female SS measure, significant differences were observed for 5-year-olds at the p < .05 level and for 4- and 15-year-olds at the p < .001 level. The largest quantity of significant findings was seen in the male SS measure between cohorts, with six male age categories showing significant findings at p < .05 and four other categories at p < .01. From these findings there appears to be an increase in the adiposity levels of children from the above-mentioned population in specific age categories. Results may have been of greater significance with a larger number of subjects in the final cohort. Results may have also been minimal due to the value of physical activity and healthy lifestyle behaviors by the families in this population. However, these data may provide initial information that the BMI and SS levels of growing children have not changed substantially from the 1970s to the 1990s in active populations. Further investigation is needed to demonstrate trends in adiposity change over time in various age, gender, socioeconomic, geographic, and racial populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
