Longitudinal changes in physical fitness performance in youth: A multilevel latent growth curve modeling approach
Using a multilevel latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) approach, this study examined longitudinal change in levels of physical fitness performance over time (i.e., 4 years) in young adolescents aged from 12 to 13 years old. The sample consisted of 6,622 students from 138 secondary schools in Singapore. Initial analyses found between-school variation on fitness test scores with intraclass correlations ranging from .02 to .19. Subsequent multilevel growth curve analyses revealed a quadratic trend of the longitudinal data across five stations of performance tests, with significant within-school student variability in change over time. The result of the multilevel LGCM showed that the there were strong school effects on all the physical fitness performances, in addition to inter- and intra-individual differences.