Some Indicators of Fatness and Motor Fitness in Slovenian and Serbian Children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify sex and age specificdifferences in fatness and motor fitness levels of children in twowestern Balkan countries in south-eastern Europe: Slovenia and Serbia.The sample consisted of 1,659 subjects of both sexes, aged from 9 to 15years. Body height, body mass, triceps skinfold thickness, bent arm hangand standing long jump were used in the analysis. Ordinal regression wasused to test differences in body mass index (BMI) categories among thecountries. MANOVA was used to test the differences in motor fitnesslevel. There were statistically significant (p<0.001) differencesbetween the countries for the entire set of tested variables. Boys andgirls from both countries had similar body height, body mass and BMI,yet Slovenians had smaller triceps skinfold thickness. Children fromboth countries were superior in standing long jump compared to theircounterparts elsewhere in Europe. However, Slovenian boys and girlsperformed better than Serbian ones in both performed motor tests.Differences between countries in motor tests results were larger at age9 than at age 14. Apparent trend was detected: with similarmorphological characteristics, Slovenian children, especially girls, arephysically fitter than Serbian ones. Sex is the only significantparameter (p<0.001) of classifying into a BMI category. Boys have anapproximate odds ratio of 1.75 for passing into a higher BMI category asgirls. Among girls, the differences between countries were greater sincethe prevalence of overweight and obese girls in Slovenia decreases withage, while the reverse trend is observed in Serbia.