Table 2.

Mean fitness percentile at baseline and mean annual change in fitness z-score by demographic characteristics for NYC public school students enrolled in grades 6–8, 2006–2011

	Girls (N = 47,856)				Boys (N = 47,141)
	Grade 6 score		Annual fitness change		Grade 6 score		Annual fitness change
	Mean	SE	Meana	SE	Mean	SE	Mean	SE
Overall	−0.044	0.027	0.032	0.002	−0.030	0.023	0.066	0.002
Ethnicity
White	0.076	0.028	0.063	0.005	0.048	0.026	0.061	0.005
Black	−0.165	0.014	0.015	0.006	0.063	0.015	0.034	0.006
Hispanic	−0.245	0.012	0.019	0.006	−0.087	0.013	0.065	0.006
Asian/Pacific Islander	−0.191	0.068	0.054	0.007	−0.159	0.014	0.118	0.007
Otherb	−0.150	0.068	−0.048	0.039	−0.058	0.069	0.043	0.037
P valuec	<0.0001		<0.0001		<0.0001		<0.0001
Student household povertyd
High	−0.044	0.007	0.018	0.002	−0.036	0.007	0.064	0.003
Low	−0.035	0.027	0.054	0.004	−0.014	0.023	0.069	0.005
P value	0.167		<0.0001		0.001		0.343
School neighborhood povertye
Very high	−0.192	0.070	0.009	0.006	−0.126	0.063	0.058	0.006
High	0.114	0.065	0.018	0.006	−0.015	0.063	0.069	0.007
Medium	−0.051	0.066	−0.155	0.006	0.047	0.063	0.040	0.006
Low	0.154	0.057	0.049	0.005	0.071	0.053	0.064	0.005
P value	0.082		<0.0001		0.180		0.043

SE standard error

^aAverage change in composite fitness percentile between the sixth and eighth grade, adjusted for school

^bIncludes Native American, multiracial, unknown, and other

^c P value calculated using the F test

^dParticipation in the National School Lunch Program acts as a proxy for household poverty. Students are considered “high poverty” if they are eligible for reduced-price/free meals, meaning their household income is within federally defined poverty limits [34]. Students are considered “low poverty” if they are not known to be eligible

^eWithin the school postal code area, levels of poverty were classified as low (<10% of residents living below the federal poverty level as defined by the U.S. Census 2000) [31], medium (10 to <20%), high (20 to <30%), and very high (≥30%)