The great leap backward: changes in the jumping performance of Australian children aged 11−12-years between 1985 and 2015

ABSTRACT

Previous data have indicated relative stability over time of paediatric jumping performance, but few data exist since the early 2000s. This study quantified the 30-year secular changes in jumping performance of Australian children aged 11−12-years using data from the Australian Schools Health and Fitness Survey (1985, n = 1967) and Growing Up in Australia’s Child Health CheckPoint (2015, n = 1765). Both cohorts measured jumping performance (standing long jump distance), anthropometric and demographic data. Secular changes in jumping performance means and quantiles were examined using multivariable linear and quantile regression. Between 1985 and 2015, jumping performance declined by 16.4 cm or by 11.2% (standardised change 0.66 SD, 95%CI 0.60 to 0.73). Adjustment for body mass reduced the effect by 32%, although the decline remained (absolute change – 11.1 cm, 95%CI −12.5 to −9.7; percent change 7.7%, 95%CI 6.7 to 8.6; standardised change 0.51 SD, 95%CI 0.44 to 0.57). This decline was evident across all quantiles. The jumping performance of Australian children aged 11−12-years has declined between 1985 and 2015, with body mass changes accounting for only part of the decline. Efforts should continue to promote paediatric muscular fitness, reduce adiposity, and aim to reverse this decline in jumping performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical fitness
• temporal trends
• children
• cross-sectional studies
• muscular fitness

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of ASHFS and CheckPoint staff and volunteers to this study. Some study data were collected and managed using REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) electronic data capture tools. REDCap is a secure, web-based application designed to support data capture for research studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here

Additional information

Funding

ASHFS was supported by grants from the Commonwealth Departments of Sport, Recreation and Tourism, and Health; The National Heart Foundation; and the Commonwealth Schools Commission. The Child Health CheckPoint has been supported to date by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (1041352, 1109355), The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation (2014-241), Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, The University of Melbourne, National Heart Foundation of Australia (100660), Financial Markets Foundation for Children (2014-055) and Victorian Deaf Education Institute. Research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute is supported by the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program. MW was supported by a NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship 1046518 and KL is supported by a NHMRC Early Career Fellowship APP1091124 and National Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship 101239. CGM is supported by a National Heart Foundation of Australia Future Leader Fellowship (100849). BJF is supported by the Patricia F Gordon Scholarship in Medical Research. This work was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (grant APP1098369). Funding bodies and sponsors did not play a role in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.