Abstract
This study examined the relationships between body composition and motor ability to establish a criterion for evaluation of obesity. The subjects were high school students, including 799 males and 1092 females between 15 and 17 years of age at Tagawa districts in Fukuoka prefecture. Anthropometric dimensions were measured, and fat percent of body weight and lean body mass were computed from body height, weight, and skinfold thickness. Also, motor ability tests were carried out in accordance with the method of sports test standardized by the Ministry of Education. The test consisted of five items, i.e., 50m dash, broad jump, ball thraw, chinning, and endurance running. The fat percent of body weight correlated negatively with motor ability tests, especially, with 50m dash, broad jump and endurance running.
The result suggested that the fat percent of body weight might be available as an index to estimate the obesity based on the toal scores of motor ability. In order to establish the criterion of obesity on the basis of motor ability, the subjects were devided into two groups according to their total scores of motor ability tests, i.e., group A, which has the scores under the fifth percentile of the total scorses and group B, more than that percentile. Supposing that group A were inferior in the motor ability, the fat percent was compared between group A and B. Means of the fat percent in group A was 20 % (19-20 %) for males and 27 % (25-30 %) for females, while those in group B, 13-14 % and 22 % respectively. Namely, the fat percent in group A was significantly higher than that in group B. From the result, the authors concluded that the criterion value of obesity based on motor ability was more than 20 % of the fat percent for males and more than 25-30 % for females.
