Romann Michael, Cobley Stephen
Department of Elite Sport, Swiss Federal Institute of Sport, Magglingen, Switzerland.
Exercise & Sport Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
PLoS One. 2015 Apr 6;10(4):e0122988. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122988. eCollection 2015.
Relative Age Effects (RAEs) refer to the selection and performance differentials between children and youth who are categorized in annual-age groups. In the context of Swiss 60m athletic sprinting, 7761 male athletes aged 8 - 15 years were analysed, with this study examining whether: (i) RAE prevalence changed across annual age groups and according to performance level (i.e., all athletes, Top 50%, 25% & 10%); (ii) whether the relationship between relative age and performance could be quantified, and corrective adjustments applied to test if RAEs could be removed. Part one identified that when all athletes were included, typical RAEs were evident, with smaller comparative effect sizes, and progressively reduced with older age groups. However, RAE effect sizes increased linearly according to performance level (i.e., all athletes - Top 10%) regardless of age group. In part two, all athletes born in each quartile, and within each annual age group, were entered into linear regression analyses. Results identified that an almost one year relative age difference resulted in mean expected performance differences of 10.1% at age 8, 8.4% at 9, 6.8% at 10, 6.4% at 11, 6.0% at 12, 6.3% at 13, 6.7% at 14, and 5.3% at 15. Correction adjustments were then calculated according to day, month, quarter, and year, and used to demonstrate that RAEs can be effectively removed from all performance levels, and from Swiss junior sprinting more broadly. Such procedures could hold significant implications for sport participation as well as for performance assessment, evaluation, and selection during athlete development.
相对年龄效应（RAEs）指的是在按年龄分组的儿童和青少年之间的选拔及表现差异。在瑞士60米田径短跑项目中，对7761名8至15岁的男性运动员进行了分析，本研究旨在探讨：（i）相对年龄效应的发生率在不同年龄组以及根据表现水平（即所有运动员、前50%、25%和10%）是否有所变化；（ii）相对年龄与表现之间的关系是否可以量化，以及是否可以应用校正调整来检验相对年龄效应是否可以消除。第一部分发现，当纳入所有运动员时，典型的相对年龄效应很明显，比较效应量较小，并且随着年龄组的增大而逐渐减小。然而，无论年龄组如何，相对年龄效应量根据表现水平（即所有运动员 - 前10%）呈线性增加。在第二部分中，将每个年龄组内每个四分位数出生的所有运动员纳入线性回归分析。结果发现，近一年的相对年龄差异导致8岁时平均预期表现差异为10.1%，9岁时为8.4%，10岁时为6.8%，11岁时为6.4%，12岁时为6.0%，13岁时为6.3%，14岁时为6.7%，15岁时为5.3%。然后根据日、月、季度和年份计算校正调整，并用于证明相对年龄效应可以从所有表现水平以及更广泛的瑞士青少年短跑项目中有效消除。这些程序可能对体育参与以及运动员发展过程中的表现评估、评价和选拔具有重大意义。
