Maturational pace and performance in female collegiate swimmers

<p>purpose of this research was (1) to compare maturational pace between the female collegiate swimmers and non-athletic controls and (2) to determine whether maturational pace differs as a function of performance level. Maturational pace can be quantified retrospectively in women using age at menarche (AaM), with younger AaM corresponding to a faster maturational pace and older AaM a slower pace. Collegiate swimmers were significantly older at menarche (13.60 years ± 1.52 SD) than non-athletic controls (12.75 years ± 1.44 SD). In addition, the top-performing third of college swimmers in our sample were significantly older at menarche (14.06 years ± 1.59 SD) than the bottom-performing third (13.32 years ± 1.35 SD). We can conclude that (1) collegiate swimmers are older at menarche than controls and (2) swim performance is associated with later ages at menarche.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Health Promotion and Human Performance

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Duski, Alan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Andrew Cornett
• Stephen McGregor
• Jonathan Ehrman

• age at menarche
• female collegiate swimmers
• maturational pace
• performance level
• swim performance
• Medicine and Health Sciences

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/811

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2188