Physical Activity and its Relationship With Elementary Students Aerobic Capacity

Background/Purpose:   Youth are recommended to accumulate 60 minutes of MVPA daily. The benefits of MVPA participation have been well documented (i.e. reducing the risk for heart disease). However, the lack of PA during childhood may lead to long-term health problems in adulthood. It is assumed that children and youth who meet the MVPA guidelines have high levels of aerobic capacity. However, further research is needed to support this notion. The purpose of this study was to examine if self-reported PA levels through the PA Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) and step-counts during physical education (PE) of 4^th-and 5^th grade students vary based on the students’ aerobic capacity as measured by the FITNESSGRAM PACER test.

Method: Ninety elementary PE students aged 9-11 years old, enrolled in the 4^th-and 5^th grades from one school in the Midwest participated. Participants completed the PAQ-C which assesses PA from the last 7 days, wore pedometers to measure steps taken for 5 consecutive PE classes, and completed the PACER fitness test.

Analysis/Results: Three multiple regression analyses were conducted to predict the achievement on the aerobic capacity PACER test from the students’ mean average steps and their overall PAQ-C score. Analysis one was conducted on the total sample while analyses two and three were gender specific. Results of analysis one indicated average steps and PAQ-C scores accounted for a significant amount of the PACER variability, R² =.36, p =.005. It was found that average steps significantly predicted PACER laps (β=.48, p <.005), as did the PAQ-C (β=.28, p <.001). Results of analysis two indicated that boys’ average steps and PAQ-C score accounted for a significant amount of the PACER variability R² = .23 p < .005. Average steps significantly predicted PACER laps (β=.48 p <.005), whereas the PAQ-C was not statistically significant (β=.14 p =.30). Results of analysis three indicated that girls’ average steps and PAQ-C score accounted for a significant amount of the PACER variability R² =.41 p <.005. It was found that the average steps significantly predicted PACER laps (β=.38, p <.005), as did the PAQ-C (β=.46, p <.001).

Conclusions: Results suggest that students who had higher scores on the PAQ-C and took more average steps achieved more laps on the PACER test. These results are vital to understanding the effect that PE and outside of school time PA has on students’ aerobic capacity and the possible need to increase opportunities for PA participation.