This article describes a nationwide study conducted to develop normative performance data for community-residing older adults. The physical parameters assessed are strength, aerobic endurance, flexibility, and agility/balance. Body mass index was also assessed as an estimate of body composition. The sample comprised 7,183 participants from 267 sites in 21 states. Summary data (M, SD, and percentiles) are reported separately for men and women in 5-year age groups. Results reveal a pattern of decline across most age groups on all variables. ANOVA and post hoc comparisons indicated a significant main effect for age on all variables and that most 5-year age-group declines were significant (p < .007). ANOVAs also revealed a significant main effect for gender on all test items (p < .0001): Men scored better on strength, aerobic endurance, and agility/balance; women scored better on flexibility. The data provide information about normal variations within and usual rates of change across age groups, and they provide a database for subsequent evaluation of individual and group performance.
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Roberta E. Rikli and C. Jessie Jones
Alyssa Abreu, Jessica Thompson, Danielle N. Cofield, Mark D. Faries, and Eric J. Jones
to administer the fitness tests and followed Nieman ( 2011 ) for all test procedures and normative standards (highest category for each), except for waist-to-hip ratio (WHR; American College of Sports Medicine, 2013 ). Table 1 provides the standards for each test. Each fitness test was
Bryan E. Denham
In this essay, the author proposes that, in order to understand how the issue of performance-enhancing-drug use in professional baseball has been defined for mass audiences, scholars need to consider the political and economic interests of both baseball and the media companies that have covered the issue. Where performance-enhancing drugs are concerned, media characterizations have had a significant impact on the formation of public and organizational policy, and the author seeks to demonstrate that portrayals and perceptions of drug use in baseball can be understood through the media product that results from an intersection of normative standards with powerful influences on those standards. Calling out the heavy hitters in a culture of pervasive drug use is unfair to elite performers in that media reports sometimes give the impression that athletes have reached superstar status because they were willing to do what others were not; this is a basic falsehood.
Elisa A. Marques, Fátima Baptista, Rute Santos, Susana Vale, Diana A. Santos, Analiza M. Silva, Jorge Mota, and Luís B. Sardinha
This cross-sectional study was designed to develop normative functional fitness standards for the Portuguese older adults, to analyze age and gender patterns of decline, to compare the fitness level of Portuguese older adults with that of older adults in other countries, and to evaluate the fitness level of Portuguese older adults relative to recently published criterion fitness standards associated with maintaining physical independence. A sample of 4,712 independent-living older adults, age 65–103 yr, was evaluated using the Senior Fitness Test battery. Age-group normative fitness scores are reported for the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles. Results indicate that both women and men experience age-related losses in all components of functional fitness, with their rate of decline being greater than that observed in other populations, a trend which may cause Portuguese older adults to be at greater risk for loss of independence in later years. These newly established normative standards make it possible to assess individual fitness level and provide a basis for implementing population-wide health strategies to counteract early loss of independence.
Eva D’Hondt, Fotini Venetsanou, Antonis Kambas, and Matthieu Lenoir
, Kartin, & Kopp, 2007 ), the total point score for the BOT-2 SF was converted into an overall standard score. The percentile rank of this normative standard score is commonly used for classification purposes across descriptive performance categories (i.e., “well-below average”, “below average”, “average
Nigel R. Green, William M. Roberts, Dwayne Sheehan, and Richard J. Keegan
literacy that physical education teachers are expected to assess over the school year. However, measuring individuals against normative standards over a school year is not in accordance with the true nature of the concept. Progress should be considered in relation to each individual’s capability and his or
Stéphanie Girard, Jérôme St-Amand, and Roch Chouinard
climate as performance oriented (i.e., oriented toward comparative performance) if their PE teachers adopt normative standards to evaluate them, value students with superior skills, and compare them with one another ( Ames, 1992 ; Elliot, 1999 ; Papaioannou, Zourbanos, Krommidas, & Ampatzoglou, 2012
Fabián Arroyo-Rojas, A. Chloe Simpson, Paige Laxton, Marie Leake, Jamie Linker, and Justin A. Haegele
normative standards, can be stigmatizing and harmful and reinforces the view that disability is an undesirable difference to be corrected or eradicated ( Peers et al., 2014 ). Suggesting an alternative to ableist language is counterintuitive to our belief that there is no single solution to remove ableism
Neil Armstrong
accessing and combining large sets of 20mSRT performance data, converting them into peak V ˙ O 2 , presenting normative standards, identifying markers of children and youth at risk of poor health, and raising “clinical red flags.” The cited papers each contribute to an ongoing debate from different
Jana Slaght, Martin Sénéchal, and Danielle R. Bouchard
were combined using norms for each participant ( Rikli & Jones, 2013 ), and the final score was the sum of all the values based on whether the normative standard was met or not. The total score ranged from 0 to 8, with a higher score indicating better physical capacity. VO 2 R was measured using a CRF
