and physical fitness of girls 7 to 17 years. Obes Res.A two-fold approach was used to investigate the association between fatness and fitness of girls 7 to 17 years of age: first, age-specific correlations between fatness and measures of health-related and motor fitness, and second, comparisons of fitness levels of girls classified as fat and lean. A representative sample of 6700 between 7 to 17 years was surveyed. Adiposity (fatness) was estimated as the sum of five skinfolds (biceps, triceps, subscapular, suprailiac, medial calf). Physical fitness included health-related items (step test, PWC 170, the sit and reach, sit-ups and leg lifts, flexed arm hang) and motor performance items (standing long jump, vertical jump, arm pull strength, flamingo stand, shuttle run, plate tapping). Age-specific partial correlations between fatness and each fitness item, controlling for stature and weight, were calculated. In addition, in each age group the fattest 5% (presumably the obese) and the leanest 5% were compared on each fitness test. After controlling for stature and weight, subcutaneous fatness accounts for variable percentages of the variance in each fitness item. Estimates for health-related fitness items are: cardiorespiratory endurance -step test (3% to 5%) and PWC 170 1995;3:221-231. Submitted 18%). At the extremes, the fattest girls have generally poorer levels of health-related and motor fitness.

In Flemish females, anthropometric and fitness characteristics demonstrate higher levels of stability from adolescence to middle adulthood than physical activity. Weight status during adolescence is indicative of adult weight status, and a pattern of less activity rather than activity tends to continue from youth to adulthood.

No abstract

This study examines leisure-time sport participation among adults according to their socio-cultural background and from a time-trend perspective. Using stapled cross-sectional survey data, sport participation trends in Flanders (Belgium) are studied for the 1979-99 period. The study explores the extent to which social inequalities in leisure-time sport still prevail. The results indicate that age, gender and social class remain the most important factors influencing sport involvement. Differences according to age, gender and social class are not only found with respect to participation rates; even among sport participants, social differentiation takes place in terms of the organizational context and participation preferences. Using logistic regression modelling and canonical correlation analysis, stratification patterns and different sporting styles are identified in terms of activities. The findings are discussed in terms of three decades of the Sport for All movement in Flanders.

It is widely believed that active participation in sports during youth is an important prerequisite for adult involvement in sports. However, data from reliable longitudinal studies tracking patterns of sports participation from youth into adulthood are scarce. This study addresses the leisure-time sports participation of adult women, 32—41 years of age, from a lifetime sports socialization perspective. Some 20 years after they participated in 1979 in the Leuven Growth Study on Flemish Girls, 257 female adults participated again in a comprehensive questionnaire and face-to-face interview. Inter-age correlations for sports participation are calculated from adolescence into adulthood. Logistic regression modeling and structural equation modeling are used to explain individual differences in adult sports participation. Outcomes indicate that tracking of sports involvement between late adolescence and adulthood is moderately high ( r = .41; beta .42). The results from the multivariate analysis show that sport participation during adolescence is a better predictor of adults' involvement in sports than educational level or parental socioeconomic status. The variances accounted for are rather small, indicating that sport experiences and social background characteristics only partially explain the sport participation behavior of adults. In the sports socialization process, late adolescent sports experience, along with the school program in which an adolescent is involved, appear to play a crucial role in sport involvement in later life. We recommend that youth sports programs need to be examined critically with regard to their contribution to lifetime sports participation.