Long‐term effect of migration background on the development of physical fitness among primary school children

Abstract

Background Children with a low socioeconomic status and migration background are more likely to exhibit unfavorable health behavior patterns and higher BMI scores as well as lower physical activity and physical fitness. Aim To evaluate the effect of migration background on the development of physical fitness among primary school children from first to third grade. Methods In this longitudinal study, height, weight, and physical fitness of primary school children from Tyrol/Austria were measured five times over a period of 2.5 years using the German motor performance test DMT 6‐18 consisting of eight items testing different subdomains of physical fitness. Results A total of 266 children (45% girls) participated in all five tests, of which 69 (26%) children reported to have a migration background (MB). Mixed‐model ANOVA did not reveal a significantly different development of physical fitness (according to the mean total Z‐score of DMT 6‐18) over time, P = 0.883, partial ƞ2 < 0.01. However, children with MB showed significantly lower physical fitness compared to children without MB, P < 0.001, partial ƞ2 = 0.06. Controlling for BMI and age did not alter the interpretation of the results. Analyses of the single test items revealed significant differences in motor tests involving strength and endurance. Conclusion Primary school children with and without MB significantly increased their physical fitness over time in a comparable manner. However, children with MB showed a significantly lower physical fitness at all test time points, which was only partly explained by a higher mean BMI in children with MB. Children with MB outreached the mean baseline fitness level of children without MB not until the fourth test time point, that is after two years. Therefore, a special focus on physical fitness particularly including strength and endurance capacities should be directed to children with MB already in young ages.

Factors Associated with Physical Fitness among Overweight and Non-Overweight Austrian Secondary School Students

“…Migration background in this study was significantly associated with a lower physical fitness in all three regression models and with a higher proportion of overweight, which is well in accordance with other studies [19,28]. Beside the higher prevalence of overweight, the lower fitness level of adolescents with migration background may be partly caused by an unfavorable and insufficient level of activity in leisure time as results of the MoMo-Study in Germany showed significant effects of a migration background on the level of physical activity in the leisure time of children and adolescents [29].…”

“…In accordance with our previous studies on Austrian children and adolescents [16,19,20,21,22] students’ height and weight were measured in sport clothing and barefoot. Body height was measured by using the mobile stadiometer “Seca 217” (Seca, Hamburg, Germany) with an accuracy of 0.1 cm and body weight was measured with the calibrated scale “Grundig PS 2010” (Grundig AG, Neu-Isenburg, Germany) with an accuracy of 0.1 kg.…”

“…Weekly hours of sport club participation and weekly hours of physical activity in leisure time were summed up to get a total amount of weekly leisure time sports activity. As an indicator for migration background, students were asked according to previous studies [16,19] whether the language spoken at home was German (no migration background) or another one (migration background).…”

“…Physical fitness is partly genetically determined, but can also be greatly influenced by environmental factors [1]. There are several studies showing that physical fitness of children and adolescents depends on so-called modifiable factors, e.g., body mass index (BMI) or weight status, electronic media use and sports activity and on so-called non-modifiable factors as e.g., age, sex, socio-economic status or migration background [17,18,19,20]. In a study by Klein et al [18] among a cohort of about 1400 German children and adolescents aged seven to 16 years, a higher socio-economic status was associated with a higher physical fitness compared to those with a lower socio-economic status.…”

“…In a study by Klein et al [18] among a cohort of about 1400 German children and adolescents aged seven to 16 years, a higher socio-economic status was associated with a higher physical fitness compared to those with a lower socio-economic status. Regarding migration background, which is defined as present if children or at least one of their parents were born in a foreign country, Ruedl et al [19] reported significant lower physical fitness of primary school children with migration background, which was only partly explained by a higher mean BMI in those children. In addition, Kaiser-Jovy et al [21] found among a cohort of 391 Austrian adolescents aged 10 to 14 years that a high BMI, heavy media use, as well as migration background correlate negatively with both sport activity and physical fitness.…”