Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Primary Education Pupils

the Association with Anthropometric Characteristics

Authors

  • Matea Gašparović University of Rijeka, Faculty od Teacher Education , Univerza v Rijeki, Pedagoška fakulteta
  • Vilko Petrić University of Rijeka, Faculty od Teacher Education, Chair of Methods of Teaching Scinece in Natural Sciences and Social Sciences , Univerza v Rijeki, Pedagoška fakulteta, Katedra za didaktike učnih predmetov naravoslovnih in družboslovnih znanosti
  • Vesna Štemberger University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Department of Primary Teacher Education , Univerza v Ljubljani, Pedagoška fakulteta, Oddelek za razredni pouk
  • Marija Rakovac University of Zagreb, Faculty of Kinesiology, Institute for Kinesiological Anthropology and Methodology , Univerza v Zagrebu, Fakulteta za kineziologijo, Zavod za kineziološko antropologijo in metodologijo
  • Iva Blažević Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Educational Science, Department of Teacher Education , Univerza Jurija Dobrila, Fakulteta za izobraževalne znanosti, Oddelek za izobraževanje učiteljev

Keywords:

health, primary school, maximal oxygen uptake, body height, body weight

Abstract

The goal of this research was to determine cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) among primary school male and female pupils and its association with their anthropometric characteristics. The sample consisted of 112 boys and 136 girls, primary school pupils, aged 7 to 10. The Eurofit test battery was used to evaluate anthropometric characteristics (body height, body mass, body mass index (BMI)) and CRF (Beep test to estimate maximal oxygen uptake). The results indicate stagnation in the CRF with chronological age, in both sexes. A statistically significant association (p = 0.001) was shown for all CRF variables and  anthropometric variables except for body height, which was not significantly associated with CRF. An increase in body mass and BMI was associated with a significant (p = 0.001) decrease in male and female pupils' CRF.

Author Biographies

  • Matea Gašparović, University of Rijeka, Faculty od Teacher Education, Univerza v Rijeki, Pedagoška fakulteta

    Student, Rijeka, Croatia. E-mail: matea3108gasparovic@gmail.com.

  • Vilko Petrić, University of Rijeka, Faculty od Teacher Education, Chair of Methods of Teaching Scinece in Natural Sciences and Social Sciences, Univerza v Rijeki, Pedagoška fakulteta, Katedra za didaktike učnih predmetov naravoslovnih in družboslovnih znanosti

    Rijeka, Croatia. E-mail: vilko.petric@uniri.hr.

  • Vesna Štemberger, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Department of Primary Teacher Education, Univerza v Ljubljani, Pedagoška fakulteta, Oddelek za razredni pouk

    Ljubljana, Slovenia. E-mail: vesna.stemberger@pef.uni-lj.si.

  • Marija Rakovac, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Kinesiology, Institute for Kinesiological Anthropology and Methodology, Univerza v Zagrebu, Fakulteta za kineziologijo, Zavod za kineziološko antropologijo in metodologijo

    Zagreb, Croatia. E-mail: marija.rakovac@kif.hr.

  • Iva Blažević, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Educational Science, Department of Teacher Education, Univerza Jurija Dobrila, Fakulteta za izobraževalne znanosti, Oddelek za izobraževanje učiteljev

    Pula, Croatia. E-mail: iblazevic@unipu.hr.

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Published

01.12.2017

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 4 (2017)

Section

Scientific Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2017 The Journal of Elementary Education

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Gašparović, M., Petrić, V., Štemberger, V., Rakovac, M., & Blažević, I. (2017). Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Primary Education Pupils: the Association with Anthropometric Characteristics. Journal of Elementary Education, 10(4), 417-426. https://old.journals.um.si/index.php/education/article/view/308

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