title: Explaining Disparities in Youth Aerobic Fitness and Body Mass Index: Relative Impact of Socioeconomic and Minority Status.
abstract: To advance research on youth fitness promotion it is important to understand factors that may explain the disparities in fitness.
  
  
  
  We evaluated data from the FitnessGram NFL PLAY60 Partnership Project to examine school factors influencing aerobic capacity (AC) and body mass index (BMI) in schoolchildren. Individual observations for AC (157,971 students from 675 schools) and BMI (178,274 students from 630 schools) were aggregated to compute the percentage of students achieving the Healthy Fitness Zone (HFZ). We examined achievements using adjusted linear regression models with socioeconomic status (SES), minority status, region, enrollment, and grade as factors.
  
  
  
  The mean HFZ for AC and BMI were 51.6% and 56.9%, respectively. SES, minority status, and enrollment were all significantly associated with AC HFZ among boys, and SES and enrollment were significant predictors of AC HFZ in girls. SES and location were significantly related to BMI HFZ among boys but only SES significantly predicted BMI HFZ in girls. Schools with higher SES had higher AC and BMI HFZ achievements.
  
  
  
  SES was consistently associated with health-related fitness, independent of sex, but not minority status.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science, University of Vermont, 305 Rowell Building, Burlington, VT 05405. yang.bai@med.uvm.edu.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Iowa State University, 283 Forker Building, Ames, IA 50010. pedrosm@iastate.edu.
authors.forename: Pedro F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Saint-Maurice
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Iowa State University, 257 Forker Building, Ames, IA 50010. gwelk@iastate.edu.
authors.forename: Gregory J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Welk
authors.affiliation: The Cooper Institute®, 12330 Preston Rd, Dallas, TX 75230. kallumsfeatherston@cooperinst.org.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Allums-Featherston
authors.affiliation: The Cooper Institute®, 12330 Preston Rd, Dallas, TX 75230. ncandelaria@cooperinst.org.
authors.forename: Norma
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Candelaria
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups; D010807:Physical Endurance; D010809:Physical Fitness; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012923:Social Class
keywords: FitnessGram; child and adolescent health; health disparities; school characteristics