title: Assessment of self-perception of physical fitness and proposal for standards among Chilean adolescent students: the EAPAF study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Physical fitness may be assessed among children and adolescents in a quantitative and qualitative manner. At present, in Chile, there are no tools available to assess self-perception of physical fitness. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument that would allow to assess selfperception of physical fitness among adolescents and propose standards for age and sex.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey was administered among adolescent students from six public schools in the Maule Region, Chile, selected in a probabilistic (stratified) fashion. To measure self-perception of physical fitness, a qualitative instrument was developed: the Self-Perception of Physical Fitness Scale (EAPAF, escala de autopercepcion de la aptitud fisica), which is made up of four dimensions and 18 questions. The LMS method (L: Box-Cox coefficient, M: median curve, and S: variation coefficient) was used to establish percentiles and propose references by dimension, age and sex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 3060 adolescents (1702 boys and 1358 girls) aged 11.0 to 18.9 years old were included. The factor analysis evidenced four factors. Saturation values were above 0.40. The percentage of instrument explanation reached 54.24%. In terms of reliability, the 18 questions reflected that Cronbach's alpha was between 0.82 and 0.85. Percentiles (p15, p50 and p85) were developed to classify self-perception of physical fitness by dimension, age and sex. Boys showed higher scores in the self-perception of physical fitness scale when compared to girls (p 〈 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The instrument developed in this study was valid and reliable. In addition, the standards proposed may become a useful tool to classify adolescents in relation to their selfperception of physical fitness.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias de la Actividad Física, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile.|Facultad de Educación Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brasil.|Red Iberoamericana en Investigación en Desarrollo Biológico Humano, Perú
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cossio-Bolaños
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Talca, Chile.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vasquez
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Educación Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brasil.|Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física, Universidad San Sebastián, Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Luarte-Rocha
authors.affiliation: Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, Arequipa, Perú
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sulla-Torres
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Educación Física, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brasil. rossaunicamp@gmail.com.|Red Iberoamericana en Investigación en Desarrollo Biológico Humano, Perú|Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Talca, Chile.|Universidad Científica del Sur, Lima, Perú
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gómez Campos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002677:Chile; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010809:Physical Fitness; D012649:Self Concept; D057566:Self Report
keywords: Adolescent; Physical fitness; Reliability and validity; Self-perception