Manios Y, Kafatos A, Codrington C
Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 1999 Mar;39(1):24-30.
To assess physical activity and physiological fitness parameters among six year old children and to determine whether there were any significant gender differences.
DESIGN & SETTING: comparative study of a representative sample of boys and girls in school and at home.
569 children (305 boys and 264 girls) selected randomly from a total of 6153 registered in the 1st grade in 1992 on the island of Crete.
assessment of physical activity was based on observational methods involving teachers 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.
Both sexes were found to spend a very small proportion of their leisure time in Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activities (MVPA). More boys engaged in MVPA than girls at school and at home, but more girls were involved in physical activity-related lessons and classes out of school. Among the physiological fitness parameters, significant gender differences were found only for MMC. No significant gender difference was found in performance on the 20mSRT.
The results indicate that in this culture stereotypic sex preferences in physical activity begin at a very young age, and that this differentiation cannot be attributed to gender differences in cardiorespiratory fitness. The social, environmental and possibly psychological parameters involved have implications for Health Educators and Physical Education Instructors in the appropriate targeting of physical activity promotion programs among young children.
评估六岁儿童的身体活动和生理健康参数，并确定是否存在显著的性别差异。
对在校和在家的男孩和女孩代表性样本进行比较研究。
从1992年克里特岛一年级注册的6153名儿童中随机选取569名儿童（305名男孩和264名女孩）。
身体活动评估基于涉及教师和家长的观察方法。通过20米穿梭跑测试（20mSRT）的表现来估计心肺功能。还测量了体重指数、皮褶厚度、上臂肌肉周长（MMC）和血红蛋白。
发现两性在中度至剧烈身体活动（MVPA）中度过的休闲时间比例非常小。在学校和家里，参与MVPA的男孩比女孩多，但更多女孩参与校外与体育活动相关的课程。在生理健康参数中，仅MMC存在显著的性别差异。在20mSRT测试中的表现未发现显著的性别差异。
结果表明，在这种文化中，体育活动方面刻板的性别偏好从很小的年龄就开始了，而且这种差异不能归因于心肺功能的性别差异。所涉及的社会、环境以及可能的心理参数对健康教育工作者和体育教师在幼儿中适当开展体育活动促进项目具有启示意义。
