Background: Childhood overweight and obesity has become a serious problem within both developed and developing countries. Recent reviews show alarming international trends of increasing overweight and obesity levels among children in virtually every country studied. Unfortunately, trend data on the health-related size, shape and fitness of Thai children has not been reported. / Objectives: This study investigated the physical and health-related fitness characteristics of population subsets of Thai children aged between 6 - 13 years. The study design allowed samples from different geographic locations, including representative urban and rural groups, and different socio-economic strata to be analysed. Children from the three main school types (rural public, urban public and private) were sampled and compared, The broad questions of interest were: (1) are there any differences in overweight and obesity levels, and in health-related fitness and performance measures among these different groups, (2) what differences exist in socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics across these sub-populations that might help to explain any differences in body composition and fitness, and (3) how, if at all, have these patterns changed over time? / Methods: A sample of 5,963 Thai children aged 6-13 year were randomly selected from 32 schools throughout the country. These schools included 8 private schools [located in urban districts], and 12 urban and 12 rural public schools. Each child completed fitness testing that consisted of basic anthropometry (height, weight, skinfolds, and girths), and field tests (standing broad jump, sit-ups in 30 seconds, grip strength, 50 m sprint, and 1/1.6km run and walk aerobic testing). Furthermore, students and their parents or guardians completed questionnaires probing a range of personal and behavioural/lifestyle activities. / Thesis ([PhDHumanMovement])--University of South Australia, 2005.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/267377 |
| Creators | Klanarong, Suntara. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | copyright under review |
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