Gender differences in physical activity

摘要

Backgorund. To assess physical activity and physiological fitness parameters among six year old children and to determine whether there were any significant gender differences. Methods. Design & Setting: comparative study of a represen- Tative sample of boys and girls in school and at home. Participants: 569 children (305 boys and 264 girls) selected Randomly form a total of 6153 registered in the 1st grade in 1992 on the island of Crete. Measures: assessment of physical activity was based on observational methods involving teach- ers and parents. Cardiorespiratory fitness was estimated by performance on the 20 meter Shuttle Run Test (20mSRT). BMI, skinfold thickness, Midarm Muscle Circumference (MMC) and hemoglobin were also measured.