Somatotype and Physical Activity in Italian and Estonian School Children Aged 6-11 Years

The analysis of somatotype in children is useful to investigate physique’s changes during growth for monitoring growth processes and physical characteristics associated with other variables such as strength and physical activity. In this direction go our study of somatotype in Italian and Estonian children, with particular attention to the influence of extra curricular physical activities on children’s somatotype. The sample comprehends 366 Estonian children (181 m, 185 f) and 763 Italian children (381 m, 382 f) aged 6-11 years who have been somatotyped by the Heath-Carter anthropometric method. Grip and pinch strength and data about physical activity were also recorded. Considering Estonian and Italian children separately, mean somatotype generally doesn’t differ between sexes and children who do/don’t do physical activity. Conversely, significant differences are observed between Estonian and Italian children. Marked are the differences between the mean somatotype of Italian and Estonian children who do physical activity. The percentage of children who do physical activity is higher in Cento than in Tartu, but the mean hours of training per week is significantly higher in Estonians. Estonian children are more mesomorphic and less endomorphic and it could be related to the higher duration of Estonian’s physical activity. Nevertheless, a more frequent practice of sport at school and a difference in the skeletal structure couldn’t be excluded, as the breadths of humerus and femur are always higher in Estonian children.