Search

Sexual maturation is one method by which researchers account for developmental timing during growth. In a longitudinal motor performance study (MPS), mothers reported their own recalled age at menarche and their daughters.' Approximately twenty years later, a sample of those daughters provided their recalled age at menarche. Study purposes were to determine whether: 1) average age at menarche for this sample was similar to the extant literature; 2) daughters' and mothers' ages at menarche collected during the MPS differed; and 3) a retrospective assessment of age at menarche (daughters' reports as adults) was correlated to recall data (mothers' reports of daughters' age). Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated for the sample; via probit analysis, MPS females were average in maturational timing. Mothers and daughters did not differ in menarcheal age; daughters' initial reported mean age at menarche correlated with their recalled mean age at follow up, r = 0.82 (p < 0.0001).

Childhood physical fitness relative to adult health outcomes coupled with scant longitudinal research indicates that tracking of fitness components throughout childhood/adolescence is imperative. The study examined the stability/tracking of 9 measures of fitness for boys and girls at 5 points throughout childhood/adolescence. Tracking coefficients between individual fitness measures at various age comparisons were calculated. Using a sample with recorded data at 4 time-points, tertiles (high, moderate, low) were calculated for each fitness measure for boys and girls. Stability of fitness measures was calculated. Boys outperformed girls on fitness measures at most time points. Significantly low to moderately high tracking coefficients for each fitness measure at all time points for boys (r = 0.21-0.79) and girls (r = 0.23-0.89) were found. Tertile ratings remained stable across the 4 time-points. Findings highlight the importance of developing healthy fitness behaviors early in life and the significance of intervention during adolescence in low-fit youth.