The worldwide increase in childhood overweight and obesity underscores the need to study variables like fundamental movement skill (FMS) levels from early childhood. This study investigated the bidirectional longitudinal relationship between body mass index (BMI) and process-oriented FMSs, including locomotor skills and object control skills in…

The purpose of this investigation was to investigate whether age, anthropometric characteristics, and athleticism of NCAA D3 collegiate baseball players were related to their playing status (starter versus backup). In the two weeks prior to the start of their championship season, 144 participants from three universities in the Great Lakes region…

Using the 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (weighted population size = 35,460,209; 8-18 years old; 52.1% males), we compared the obesity prevalence in children and adolescents between body mass index-based (BMI-based) and total percent body fat-based (BF%-based, measured by the dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) cutoffs.…

Excess adipose tissue may impact the motor performance of youth. Therefore, the current study examined: (1) if adiposity influenced performance in the jump and reach and 30-yard dash; and (2) if maturation predicted motor performance. Participants (N = 267) included girls aged 8 to 16 years. Latent growth curves were used to assess changes in…

South Asians have become a sizable ethnic minority in Hong Kong with unique health and social needs often being overlooked. Elevated obesity risk among South Asians has been highlighted in high-income Western settings; however, relevant local evidence is scarce. This cross-sectional study aims to explore the obesity prevalence and related risk…

There are studies reporting different results on whether there is an increased incidence of cardiovascular problems in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The aim of this study was to examine carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), an early marker of atherosclerosis in children and adolescents with ASD. This single-center case-control study was…

Background: Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) are important building blocks for children's sport-participation and lifelong physical activity. In the last decade, several international studies have reported delays in the development of FMS. To get better insight into the Dutch situation and to provide future directions, this study examined the…

Social physique anxiety is commonly examined in exercise science to understand individuals' physical activity motivation and behavior. Although a 12-item and 9-item version of the Social Physique Anxiety Scale exists, a 7-item version has become a popular tool to measure this construct despite the need to further examine its measurement…

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of life kinetic exercises on the performance of floor curling athletes. A total of 40 volunteer women, 20 in the experimental group and 20 in the control group, residing in the city center of Gaziantep, aged between 14 and 16 and doing floor curling, participated in the study. Life kinetic exercise…

We developed age- and sex-specific smoothed percentiles for vertical and long jump, as well as vertical jump power, in healthy 10-18 year olds (n = 529, 47.1% female). Jump height and distance were measured and vertical jump power was assessed via mechanography. LMS regression was used to create smoothed age-specific reference curves, separated by…

This study evaluated test-equating methods to enable comparisons and conversions between the vertical jump (VJ) and standing long jump (SLJ) tests. A total of 528 youth (280 males) performed VJ and SLJ, and their scores were randomly split as the calibration (C) sample (n = 478) and cross-validation (CV) sample (n = 50). SLJ scores of the C sample…

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between perceived weight change since high school and perceived factors contributing to weight change, or lack thereof, among college students. Students from a large university in the Northeast of the United States self-reported socio-demographic characteristics, and perceived factors…

The primary aim of this study was to identify levels of fundamental movement skills (FMS) proficiency in primary school children. A secondary aim was to establish if these FMS proficiency levels differentiated between children born in different quartiles of the school year. The results demonstrated overall levels of FMS proficiency were low in…

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…

The coronavirus (COVID -19) pandemic has brought unprecedented restrictions to people's physical activities and routines. The COVID-19 pandemic may have reduced physical activity levels and increased inactivity for various reasons (e.g., closure of gyms, family time constraints, and reduced outdoor mobility). The aim of this study is to examine…