School and Neighborhood Predictors of Physical Fitness in Elementary School Students.

BACKGROUND: We assessed the associations of 5 school and 7 neighborhood variables with fifth-grade students achieving Healthy Fitness Zone (HFZ) or Needs Improvement-Health Risk (NI-HR) on aerobic capacity (AC) and body composition (BC) physical fitness components of the state-mandated FITNESSGRAM® physical fitness test.

METHODS: Data for outcome (physical fitness) and predictor (school and neighborhood) variables were extracted from various databases (eg, Data Quest, Walk Score® ) for 160 schools located in San Diego, California. Predictor variables that were at least moderately correlated (|r| ≥ .30) with ≥1 outcome variables in univariate analyses were retained for ordinary least squares regression analyses.

RESULTS: The mean percentages of students achieving HFZ AC (65.7%) and BC (63.5%) were similar (t = 1.13, p = .26), while those for NI-HR zones were significantly different (AC = 6.0% vs BC = 18.6%; t = 12.60, p < .001). Correlations were greater in magnitude for school than neighborhood demographics and stronger for BC than AC. The school variables free/reduced-price lunch (negative) and math achievement (positive) predicted fitness scores. Among neighborhood variables, percent Hispanic predicted failure of meeting the HFZ BC criterion.

CONCLUSIONS: Creating school and neighborhood environments conducive to promoting physical activity and improving fitness is warranted.