Develop Sex and Age Specific Normative Values for Health & Skill Related Physical Fitness of 19 – 21 Years Old Sri Lankan Youth

Abstract

Numerous test batteries are available to assess physical fitness, “Eurofit” is the major test battery which is used in Sri Lanka commonly. Many studies have been done to assess fitness in different settings, for both sexes at different ages in various countries except Sri Lanka. Harmonized measures were used as literature due to scarcity of reference values related to physical status of Sri Lankans. Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka has been using “EURO FITNESS” and “AAHPERD” test batteries to test physical fitness level among 19 - 21 years old teenagers when conducting aptitude test. The follow up of the requirement of reconstructing norms for aptitude test were guided to develop age and sex specific normative values for the health and skill related physical fitness among 19-21 years old Sri Lankan youth. 225 males (age 19-21) and 225 females (age 19-21) were selected as covering whole country. Four tests in EUROFIT (sit & reach, 5x10 shuttle run, 30s’pushups, standing broad jump), one test in AAHPERD (50-yard sprint) and 1000 m run were considered to develop suitable norms. 5th, 15th, 25th, 35th, 45th, 55th, 65th, 75th, 85th and 95th percentiles were computed for each test. The range of existing norms for 50-yard sprint, 5x10m shuttle run, sit and reach, push-ups and standing board jump tests were [5.9 - 7.9], [17.4 - 19.9], [(-1) - 29], [4 - 42], [1.79 - 2.78] and the range of newly constructed norms are [5.99 - 7.45], [15.81 - 18.99], [(-1) - 20], [17 - 38] and [1.95 - 2.65], respectively for males. The range of existing norms for female were [6.8 – 9.5], [19.2 - 21.9], [(-1) – 35], [1 – 23], [4.0 - 10.8], [1.52 – 2.18] and the range of newly constructed norms are [6.66 - 8.50], [16.75 - 20.60], [2 – 23], [8 – 25], [3.25 - 7.29] and [1.56 - 2.14], respectively. The range of newly constructed norms for 1000 m run are [2.70 - 5.87] and [3.25 - 7.29] for men and women correspondingly. Further studies are essential to enhance the reliability and validity of the newly constructed norms.