PHYSICAI FITNESS AND MOTOR ABILITY IN OBESE GIRLS AGED 12 TO 14 YEARS

Abstract

Excess body fat has generally been considered to be an influential factor on physical fitness and motor ability in obese girls. However, little information is available on physical fitness and motor ability in this population group. The purpose of this study was to clarify selected characteristics of physical fitness and motor ability in obese girls in comparison with non-obese girls. The subjects were 302 girls aged 12-14 years. Nineteen physical fitness and motor ability items were tested, and skinfold thickness was measured at six sites. Bioelectrical impedance was measured using a tetrapolar impedance plethysmograph (Selco SIF-891) . Body density was calculated from the formula of Kim et al. The results of the comparative study clearly indicated that the obese group was significantly inferior in the 1, 000-m run, 50-m run, 5-min run, modified pull-ups, running long jump and many other variables, but superior in grip strength and back strength. To analyze the factorial structure for these girls, principal factor analysis was applied to the correlation matrix which was calculated with 19 variables, and then six factors were extracted. The obese group was significantly inferior in total body endurance, muscular strength and muscular endurance to the non-obese group. From these results, it was confirmed that excess body fat could be one of the most important factors affecting the state of many physical fitness and motor ability elements in obese girls. However, the relationships between physical fitness, motor ability and the degree of fatness seem to be rather complicated. A great deal of data should be accumulated for more detailed analysis of the influence of excess body fat in obese girls.