AbstractsMedical & Health Science

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI), cardiovascular fitness, and health-related fitness knowledge in Jr. High School aged students. The study included 60 7th grade students (30 males and 30 females) from a rural, low-income school in the valley of Northern California. Four methods of data collection were used in this study. Height and weight were collected to calculate BMI, a 15-meter PACER was incorporated to determine cardiovascular fitness, a validated, 20 question assessment, was used to measure health-related fitness knowledge and birthdays, gender, and ethnicity were retrieved from the school. Descriptive statistics were calculated to describe the participant???s demographics and the non-parametric tests, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis, were used to determine if relationships existed between the variables. Among the participants, data indicated a significant difference between BMI and cardiovascular fitness (z = -2.882, p = 0.004). Results indicated that participants who had a higher calculated BMI, had a lower cardiovascular fitness level and participants who had a lower BMI, scored higher on the PACER and had a greater chance of being categorized in the Healthy Fitness Zone of cardiovascular fitness. Health-related fitness knowledge, however, had no statistically significant relationship to BMI or cardiovascular fitness. Age, gender, and ethnicity also were found to have no relationship to BMI, cardiovascular fitness, or health-related fitness knowledge. Results describe the need for additional research in the field of obesity and further examination of the effects of health-related fitness knowledge.