Italian Physical Fitness Decline: A True Fact or a Mindset? A 10-Year Observational Perspective Study

Nicola Lovecchio, Matteo Giuriato, Vittoria Carnevale Pellino, Francesca Valarani, Roberto Codella and Matteo Vandoni
Additional contact information
Nicola Lovecchio: Laboratory of Adapted Motor Activity (LAMA), Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Matteo Giuriato: Department of Human Science, University of Verona, 37100 Verona, Italy
Vittoria Carnevale Pellino: Laboratory of Adapted Motor Activity (LAMA), Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Francesca Valarani: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy
Roberto Codella: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy
Matteo Vandoni: Laboratory of Adapted Motor Activity (LAMA), Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-12

Abstract: Evidence regarding a putative physical fitness decline remains less well documented for Italian children and adolescents. An update review of data collection articles was undertaken concerning motor performances (power, strength, speed-agility and indirect cardiorespiratory fitness) of children and adolescents worldwide and compared with 2859 11–12-year-old Italian students of both sexes, throughout a ten-year observational period. Lower limb explosive strength (standing broad jump), flexibility (sit-and-reach), endurance (Cooper) and speed (SP-30) performances of sixth grade Italian students showed nearly stable trends, with no differences during the observed decade, in both sexes. This 10-year perspective study confirmed that Italian physical fitness levels flatlined rather than actually declined. According to these study data, the decline in physical fitness of the Italian youth is ostensible and needs a further in-depth analysis.

Keywords: physical fitness decline; motor performance; youth performance; motor skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/8008/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/8008/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:21:p:8008-:d:437864

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().