Validity of the sit-and-reach test for male and female adolescents

Includes bibliographical references (pages [26]-28; [41]-42).The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the sit-and-reach test as a measure of low-back and hamstring flexibility for male and female adolescents(15-18 years old). The subjects were 109 (females,n=55 and male,n=54) high-school students. The subjects performed a brief warm up prior to their testing session. Each subject completed the sit-and-reach(S-&-R), the modified-Schober (M-S) to measure low-back flexibility, the passive-straight-leg-raise(PSLR) and the active-knee- extension (AKE) tests to measure hamstring flexibility in a counter-balanced order. There was a moderate Pearson product moment correlation between the S-&-R and the AKE test (£=-.61) and the S-&-R and the PSLR test(£=.67) for the females. However, there was a poor correlation between the S-&-R and the M-S(£=.28). The males also had a moderate correlation between the S-&-R and the AKE test(£=-.63) and the S-&-R and the PSLR(£=.64). The correlation between the S-&-R and the M-S(£=.32) was poor. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was completed to determine the amount of variance for the S-&-R test that could be explained by the M-S. When the first predictor in the regression equation was the AKE test, the M-S explained an additional 4% of the S-&-R variance for females and 2% for males. When the PSLR test was the first predictor in the regression equation, the M-S explained an additional 7% of the S-&-R variance for both male and female subjects. It was concluded that the sit-and-reach test is not a valid measure of low-back flexibility in either male or female adolescents.M.S. Ed. (Master of Education