The effects of a physical education endurance running program on coronary heart disease risk factors in high school sophomores

One hundred and twenty-nine randomly selected high school sophomores were tested before and after an l8-week endurance running program to determine the effects of that program on selected measures associated with coronary heart disease--specifically, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, body fatness, heart rate response to submaximal exercise (bench-stepping test), leisure time energy expenditure, and cigarette smoking habits. Fifty-six of those students with complete physiological data were randomly selected to take the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale before and after the running program.

An analysis of variance on post-intervention data revealed no significant differences (p >.l0) on physiological measures between those students taking no physical education classes during the 18-week program (Group l), those students taking physical education during the first nine weeks only (Group 2), those students taking physical education during the second nine weeks only (Group 3), and those students taking physical education for the entire 18 weeks (Group 4). Groups l and 4 only were compared on the self-concept measures; no significant differences were detected (p >.10). The analysis of covariance technique was used instead of the analysis of variance in all comparisons for which treatment groups differed on pre-intervention measures (p< .30).

The same comparisons for those students scoring in the upper 50% on heart rate response to bench stepping (highest heart rate response) yielded similar results. There were no significant differences among the physiological measures (p >.l0), while only the score for personal self was significantly higher for Group 4. When the same comparisons were made for those students scoring in the upper 50% on body fatness (most fat), there were no significant differences among the treatment groups for either physiological or self-concept measures.

A one-sample Chi square test showed no changes in the distribution of smokers and nonsmokers among the treatment groups (p >.10) as a result of the running program. The intervention program apparently did not influence students to stop smoking.

Results suggest that the endurance running program employed in this study is not an effective way for school physical educators to produce desirable changes in coronary heart disease risk factors for high school sophomores in 18 weeks.