TITLE:
First normative reference of standing long jump indicates gender difference in lower muscular strength of Macedonian school children
AUTHORS:
Seryozha Gontarev, Vujica Zivkovic, Lence A. Velickovska, Milan Naumovski
KEYWORDS:
Fitness Testing; Standing Long Jump; Gender; Children; Adolescents; Lower Muscular Strength
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.6 No.1,
January
26,
2014
ABSTRACT: Background: This is the first study to publish the normative reference values for assessment of the level of muscular strength through the “standing long jump” test carried out on a large sample of Macedonian school children. The normative values encompass a wide span of years (6 - 18). Methods: The research was realized in a large sample of 12618 school children at the age of 6 to 18 years from Macedonia. The sample was divided in 14 groups, according to chronological age and each age group was divided into two subgroups according to the criteria of gender. For estimation of the morphologic characteristics, the following anthropometric measures have been applied: body height in standing position (cm), body weight (kg), as well as the body mass index (BMI). Children aged 6 or above were invited to take a standing long jump test. Results: Boys show statistically better results in all age categories in the standing long jump test than girls, and these differences become bigger with the increase of age, especially after the 14th year (p