Relationship between body composition measures and AAHPER test performances in young boys

Relationships between total body density, total body potassium, skinfold thickness measurements and aahper Youth Fitness Test performances were determined on 49 prepubescent boys, 8 to 11 yr of age. Zero-order correlations between body composition measures and performance scores were low or moderate; however, using multiple regression analysis it was found that body composition measures significantly (p `.05) increased the variance accounted for above that explained by age, height, and weight in predicting all performance items except sit-ups. In general, body density, body potassium, and skinfold thickness predicted performances equally well when age, height, and weight were held constant. A canonical correlation analysis of the relation between the aahper Test items and the physical development variables demonstrated that there was a large proportion of common variance between the two sets of variables and significant relationships existed along two independent dimensions. It was concluded that not only variation in body size, but also variation in body composition should be considered when interpreting reults of the aahper Test for individual children and for comparison of groups of children who differ in body composition.