The importance of considering biological maturity when assessing physical fitness measures in girls and boys aged 10 to 16 years

It is widely considered that biological maturity influences physical fitness test performance, children can be advantaged/disadvantaged in physical fitness tests by being more or less mature than counterparts of the same chronological age. The current study sought to investigate the effect sexual maturity had upon performance in physical fitness tests. A cross-sectional study involving 161 girls and 152 boys was carried out. Each subject was assessed for stature, mass, self-assessment of sexual maturity, vertical jump, hand grip strength and the 20 m shuttle run test, all procedures were standardized. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were developed to assess the relationship between maturity and physical fitness measures. ANCOVA inferential statistics were performed to investigate if performance in physical fitness tests differed between children of different sexual maturity stages irrespective of mass and stature. Significance was set at p < 0:05. Stage of sexual maturity was significantly correlated with all physical fitness measures (boys: r = 0.56 to 0.73; girls: r = 0.24 to 0.46). ANCOVA revealed that when stature and mass were taken into account significant differences were evident between sexual maturity stages in boys but not girls. This suggests that increases in mass and stature are primarily responsible for variation in girls' physical performance throughout maturation, whereas in boys there are some qualitative differences in performance due to other factors. It was concluded that sexual maturity has a large influence on physical fitness measures in boys but less effect in girls. Rating of physical fitness, particularly for boys should take into account biological maturity. Es wird allgemein angenommen, dass die biologische Reife die Leistung in Tests zur korperlichen Fitness beeinflusst. Kinder konnen dadurch, dass sie reifer bzw. weniger reif sind als Gleichaltrige bei korperlichen Fitness-Tests im Vorteil bzw. im Nachteil sein. In der vorliegenden Studie soll untersucht werden, welchen Einfluss die sexuelle Reife auf die Leistung in Tests zur korperlichen Fitness hat. Es wurde eine Querschnittsstudie an 161 Madchen und 152 Jungen durchgefuhrt. Mit standardisierten Methoden wurde bei jedem Individuum die Korperhohe und das Korpergewicht gemessen, es wurde eine Selbsteinschatzung der sexuellen Reife erfasst, sowie die Leistungen im Hochsprung, in der Greifkraft und im 20 m Pendellauf. Zur Bewertung der Beziehung zwischen sexueller Reif