2007 Volume 3 Pages 39-50
The purpose of this study was to elucidate the feelings of the general public regarding the "physical fitness" (PF) of children, and the cause and effect relationship. This study was conducted using a questionnaire between February and March 2004. The sample of analysis comprised 1,393 adult males and females. The questionnaire consisted of 6 items on basic attributes, and 25 items on the status of specific physical fitness and motor ability elements of children today compared to children in the past. The proportion of subjects having actual feeling that modern children have lower PF level compared to children of the past were 46.6-76.6% for the item "Image of PF for Protection", 45.0-73.0% for "Image of PF for Performance", 27.7-50.8% for "Image of Motor Ability", and 35.5-66.1% for "Image of Mental Factor". The results showed a tendency toward a high score for "Image of PF for Protection". On the other hand, the cause and effect relationship among actual feelings on "PF" of children was also clarified. According to the analysis, the path coefficients from each PF/MA element to "Image of General PF " were 0.54 for "Image of PF for Protection", 0.26 for "Image of PF for Performance", 0.15 for "Image of Motor Ability", and 0.02 for "Image of Mental Factor". The results thus showed that the "Image of PF for Protection" had the strongest influence. The above findings suggest that practice of focusing on training "PF for protection" is necessary to eliminate feelings of the general public regarding the "decline of PF" in children.
