The Purpose of the Study Was To Compare the Physical Growth of Urban and Rural Children

Human being grows most rapidly at two stages during their lives. These are during the pre-natal period and the first six months of post-natal period and then during adolescent period. Adolescence is considered as a critical period of development at least in part, because of maturational changes in the body. The growth spurt begins before the sexual development that signals the onset of puberty.

The study was de-limited to 1000 school boys of Karnataka state. 1. The study was de-limited to 500 Urban and 500 Rural school boys of 10-14 years from Karnataka State. 2. The study was de-limited to 100 boys in each age group. 3. The study was de-limited to height and weight to assess the physical growth of the subjects.

1. Certain factors like diet, socio-economic status, exercise might have influenced the physical growth of the subjects. This was considered as one of the limitations. 2. For the assessment of physical development, only height and weight were taken. Increments in limb length, circumferences… etc. was not considered. This is also considered as another limitation.

Based on the scholar‘s knowledge, expert‘s opinions and available research findings, the following hypotheses were formulated. 1. It was hypothesized that there would not be significant differences in physical growth (height and weight) among the Rural and Urban of school boys of different age groups in Karnataka. 2. It was hypothesized that there would not be significant differences in the range of motion at trunk, hip, shoulder, trunk and neck, ankle and dynamic flexibility among Rural and Urban school boys of different age groups.

1. The results of the study may help coaches and physical education teachers to identify talented children for flexibility dominant sports events. 2. This study may reveal the pattern of physical growth of Rural and Urban boys of 10 to 14 years belonging to Karnataka state.

For the selections of subject, random sampling technique was adopted. A total of 1000 subjects, 100 subjects in each age group of 10-14 years among the groups were classified.

This chapter deals with the analysis of the data collected and the conclusions drawn. The analysis of the data on the physical growth The findings pertaining to physical growth variables such as height, weight, shoulder flexibility, Trunk and hamstring of Rural and Urban boys of 10-14 years‘ age group are as shown in the tables given below.

According to the table – 3, statistically significant factors are rows (ages), column (Rural and Urban) and Interaction (age and groups). As the obtained ‗F‘ ratios 355.01, 462.03 and 18.53 respectively for rows, column and interaction for height are greater than their corresponding table values (2.42), (3.86) and (2.38). Since interaction is statistically the most significant factor, simple effects test was carried out for boys and among the boys of different age groups (10-14 years) instead of separate post-hoc test for rows and column. The average height between Rural and Urban boys of 10-14 years age groups and their interaction are presented in figure – 1.

From table - 4 above, it is evident that the obtained ‗F‘ ratio 236.75 and 303.25 for the height of Rural and Urban boys respectively are found to be statistically significant, as obtained ‗F‘ ratio of Rural and Urban are more than the table value (2.89). This result shows that the height differs among 10-14 years age groups of the said groups. Due to this, simple effects, the post-hoc test was applied to compare the paired means of Rural and Urban boys and also between different age groups (10-14 years) which are presented in table -5.

The table-5 reveals that, there are significant differences in height between all the age groups of 10-14 years of Rural boys. The mean difference values (6.95, 11.00, 19.45, 29.53, 4.05, 12.50, 22.58, 8.45, 18.53, 10.08) of all the age groups is found to be greater than the critical interval value. The averages mean difference of height variables of 10-14 years Rural boys are graphically presented in figure – 2. Figure-2: Average Height among 10-14 years Rural Boys of Karnataka

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions have been drawn. 1. In physical growth Urban boys were found superior in height compared to their Rural counterpart in all the age groups. 2. Urban boys were found heavier in 12, 13, and 14 years. However, Rural boys were found heavier than their Urban counterparts in 10 and 12 years. 3. Constant improvement in height and body weight was observed among the Rural and Urban boys of 10-14 years.

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Physical Education Director, GFGC, Bangalore-560074