Background/Purpose Youth fitness levels are of concern to our global society. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in PACER laps completed between American Hispanic and South African youth.
Method Fitness data were recorded on 1074 youth ages 10-12. Participants had their age, height, weight, BMI and gender recorded, prior to completing the PACER shuttle run.
Analysis/Results Participants were (mean±SD): ht(cm)= 147.0±9.4; body mass(kg)= 42.8±11.6; BMI (kg/m2)= 19.7±5.4; PACER laps = 19.8±13.5; VO2max (ml.kg-1.min-1)= 32.3±6.4 (Suminski et al., 1999). A 2x2x3 fixed factor ANOVA was performed to determine significant differences in PACER laps completed. Ethnicity (South African/American Hispanic), Gender (male/female), and Age (10,11,12 year olds) served as independent variables and PACER laps completed was the dependent variable. Results for the factorial ANOVA main effects revealed American Hispanic participants completed more (p<.05) PACER laps (23.1 vs. 18.7), males completed more (p<.05) PACER laps (23.1 vs. 16.4) and there was no significant (p>.05) age differences for PACER laps completed. There was a statistically significant ethnicity x age interaction (p<.05). No other interactions were statistically significant. An interesting finding was the estimated aerobic capacities (ml.kg-1.min-1) of American Hispanic and South African students were nearly identical (33.0 vs. 32.1, respectively). Despite having similar estimated aerobic capacities, slightly greater body fat (27.0% vs. 23.1%) and higher BMIs (21.9 vs. 19.0), American Hispanic students outperformed their South African counterparts on the PACER test.
Conclusions Future researchers should evaluate the role of motivation, encouragement and teaching strategies on different ethnic group's physical fitness test results.