Explaining Disparities in Youth Aerobic Fitness and Body Mass Index: Relative Impact of Socioeconomic and Minority Status

Abstract

SES was consistently associated with health-related fitness, independent of sex, but not minority status.

The Influence of Active Gaming on Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Black and Hispanic Youth

“…Furthermore, only 42% of US adolescents have adequate cardiorespiratory fitness . Low level of fitness in ethnic minorities has been proposed as a key contributor to health disparities particularly during early adolescence as physical activity declines while obesity incidence increases . Increasing physical activity is a key component to reducing obesity and improving cardiorespiratory fitness .…”

Effect of Cardiorespiratory Fitness on Academic Achievement is Stronger in High‐SES Elementary Schools Compared to Low

“…It is well documented that low‐SES students tend to have poorer academic outcomes and lower levels of physical fitness . Accordingly, reducing disparities in health and academic achievement have been national priorities.…”

“…It is well documented that low-SES students tend to have poorer academic outcomes 42 and lower levels of physical fitness. 43,44 Accordingly, reducing disparities in health 45 and academic achievement 46 have been national priorities. Nevertheless, a review found a scarcity of research on the association between physical activity and academic outcomes among lowincome students.…”

Impact of NFL PLAY 60 Programming on Elementary School Children's Body Mass Index and Aerobic Capacity: The NFL PLAY 60 FitnessGram Partnership Project

“…Each model included a similar set of pre‐defined control variables to minimize the differences between schools, other than participation in FUTP60. Some of our previous work showed that these variables can partially explain the variability in the distributions of health‐related fitness in children, and therefore, warranted inclusion in our models. These included, school size (categorical variable; ≤100, 101‐300, 301‐500, and >500 students enrolled), school location (categorical variable; rural, town, suburb, and city), SES (continuous variable; % of students receiving free and reduced lunch), and PE class load (categorical variable; ≤90 minutes/week versus >90 minutes/week).…”