Table 1.

Student Characteristics (n=3998) in sixth and eighth grades, and changes in characteristics

		Grade 6				Grade 8				Change from 6 to 8
		Male		Female		Male		Female			Male		Female
		n, mean	%, std	n, mean	%, std	n, mean	%, std	n, mean	%, std		n, mean	%, std	n, mean	%, std
TOTALS											1914	(47.9)	2084	(52.1)
Race/ethnicity	Hispanic	1063	55.54	1159	55.61	N/A				N/A
(n, %)	Non-Hispanic Black	320	16.72	381	18.28
	Non-Hispanic White	383	20.01	372	17.85
	Other	148	7.73	172	8.25
Pubertal stage	Stage 1	288	15.05	116	5.57	24	1.25	2	0.10	error	81	4.23	41	1.97
(n, %)***	Stage 2	741	38.71	274	13.15	182	9.51	11	0.53	0	463	24.19	601	28.84
	Stage 3	704	36.78	878	42.13	921	48.12	128	6.14	+1	817	42.69	901	43.23
	Stage 4	106	5.54	681	32.68	754	39.39	1564	75.05	+2	404	21.11	354	16.99
	Stage 5	7	0.37	68	3.26	26	1.36	367	17.61	+3	74	3.87	103	4.94
	Missing	68	3.55	67	3.21	7	0.37	12	0.58	+4	0	0.00	6	0.29
										missing	75	3.92	78	3.74
Highest education level attained by head of household (n, %)	High school graduate and less	655	34.22	816	39.16	N/A				N/A
	Some college and above	696	36.36	698	33.49
	Missing	563	29.41	570	27.35
BMI percentile (mean, sd)		75.53	24.73	72.72	24.56	73.32	24.44	73.47	22.81		−2.21	11.69	0.76	11.53
BMI z-score (mean, sd)		0.98	0.93	0.85	0.90	0.88	0.91	0.85	0.84		−0.10	0.41	−0.003	0.38
BMI status difference between Grades 6 and 8 (n, %)	Increased	N/A				N/A					103	5.38	151	7.25
	Stayed Obese										467	24.4	405	19.43
	Stayed Overweight										170	8.88	223	10.7
	Stayed Healthy										843	44.04	1030	49.42
	Decreased										331	17.29	275	13.2
VO2 (mean, sd) (ml kg−1 min−1)		41.43	4.24	40.02	3.13	47.62	5.39	43.49	3.89		6.18	4.71	3.47	3.62

Legend: BMI = Body Mass Index; WC = Waist Circumference; CV = Cardiovascular; VO₂ = Volume of Oxygen squared (cardiovascular fitness)