Annals of Human Biology

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Human biology of physical activity in the growing

child

Lauren B. Sherar & Sean P. Cumming

To cite this article: Lauren B. Sherar & Sean P. Cumming (2020) Human biology of
physical activity in the growing child, Annals of Human Biology, 47:4, 313-315, DOI:
10.1080/03014460.2020.1816934

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460.2020.1816934

Published online: 30 Sep 2020.

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ANNALS OF HUMAN BIOLOGY
2020, VOL. 47, NO. 4, 313–315
https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460.2020.1816934
EDITORIAL
Human biology of physical activity in the growing child
Lauren B. Sherara and Sean P. Cummingb
a
School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK; bSport, Health, and Exercise Research Group,
Department of Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK
It is now established, without a doubt, that physical activity
is essential for the physical (Poitras et al. 2016) and mental
(Biddle and Asare 2011) health of the growing child.
Globally, however, many youth are not reaching the min-
imum physical activity guidelines required to achieve the
associated health benefits (Guthold et al. 2019) and there is
a well-observed steep decline in physical activity as children
progress through adolescence (Kimm et al. 2002; Dumith
et al. 2011; Corder et al. 2016). While the decline in unstruc-
tured activity (e.g. active play) with age is likely an inevitable
consequence of progressing to the mature state (Rowland
1998), increasing the age of onset, and reducing the steep-
ness of the decline is paramount for the current and future
health of adolescents.
One of the most visible forms of moderate-to-vigorous
physical activity in children and adolescents is organised
sport, which has a host of benefits outside of physical health
including social (e.g. sportsmanship), psychological (increased
self-esteem, particularly with team sports (Evans et al. 2017)),
and positive leadership (Fraser-Thomas et al. 2005). While
youth attendance in organised sport has increased in some
countries over the last two decades (e.g. Mathisen et al.
2019), particularly at the younger ages, disengagement dur-
ing the adolescent years is still evident, with a common
observation that girls are more susceptible to dropping out
at a younger age than boys (Chalabaev et al. 2013).
Over the past 20 years, we have seen a surge of evidence
on the correlates of physical activity (and to a lesser extent
sport participation) in children and young people. However,
perhaps less well understood is the impact that the proc-
esses of growth and biological maturation have upon child-
ren’s physical activity behaviour. Adolescence hosts stark
changes in physiology, psychology, and behaviour, but the
age at which children experience these changes differs
widely (e.g. up to 5 years) leading to marked biological vari-
ation, both between and within genders of the same age.
Many studies in public health consider biological maturity as
a confounding influence/covariate in analyses, and within
Sport Science, there has been ample observational research
documenting maturation as an important predictor of per-
formance and selection in young athletes. What is less clear,
however, are the various mechanisms and processes through
which these associations occur, how individual differences in
CONTACT Lauren B. Sherar L.B.Sherar@lboro.ac.uk School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
ß 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
maturation and development are best managed in a sporting
context, and the extent to which these processes may also
impact general engagement in physical activity. Thus, this
special issue includes a diverse compilation of cross-sectional,
longitudinal, qualitative, and quantitative studies that have a
specific focus on the impact of biology on adolescents’ par-
ticipation in physical activity and sport. We hope that it pro-
vides a fuller picture of the evidence base to date, the future
directions of the field, and the challenges that researchers
and practitioners need to overcome.
Utilising a prospective design, Baxter-Jones and col-
leagues (Baxter-Jones et al. 2020) investigated the role of
anthropometric and maturational factors upon the selection
and retention of over 800 adolescents across a range of
sports. The majority of adolescents who tried out for sports
were born within the first half of the competitive year, tall
for their age and, in many sports, advanced in maturation.
Anthropometric and maturational factors did not, however,
predict future selection and deselection. This suggests that
developmental differences may have greatest impact upon
initial entry into the sport but have limited impact beyond
this point. Findings support the need for strategies to coun-
ter selection biases against later born and/or later develop-
ing adolescents.
In an invited commentary, Eisenmann, Till, and Baker
(Eisenmann et al. 2020), further highlight the need to moni-
tor growth and maturation in youth athletes and discuss
how this information can be utilised to optimise the identifi-
cation and development of talented young athletes.
Highlighting examples of good practice, the authors describe
how information related to maturational status and timing
can be used to inform coaching decisions and the design
and implementation of training programmes. Most import-
antly, the authors identify the education of stakeholders (e.g.
coaches, parents, athletes) as a key strategy in optimising
the development of and opportunities for both early- and
late-developing athletes.
Presenting a case study from UK football (soccer), Hill and
colleagues (Hill et al. 2020) discuss how educational princi-
ples derived from Social Development Theory and research
conducted in mixed-age classrooms can be used to support
the learning and development of early- and late-maturing
players in bio-banded (i.e. maturity matched) competitions
314 L. B. SHERAR AND S. P. CUMMING
and training. Drawing heavily from the work of Vygotsky and
Bruner (Wood et al. 1976) the authors explain how coaches
and sports science practitioners can “scaffold” learning envi-
ronments to optimise challenge and opportunity for devel-
opment. Preliminary findings from the case study suggest
that these strategies can be used to better prepare athletes
for the practice of bio-banding and optimise benefits of
this strategy.
Three papers in the special issue focus specially on the
impact of biological maturity on physical performance. A
paper provided by Myburgh et al. 2020 illustrates how sex-
specific developmental curves for sprint acceleration can be
used in elite adolescent tennis players (n ¼ 3120). Intuitively,
they showed that early-maturing males and females had
poorer performances when acceleration was considered rela-
tive to biological rather than chronological age, highlighting
the bias inherent in traditional evaluation processes. The
authors suggested that examining performance relative to
developmental curves based on biological maturity (not
chronological age) may be a practical and more accurate
method of monitoring long-term athlete development.
Second, Guimares et al. 2020 utilised 4 years of longitudinal
data on 512 boys (Canadian, Portuguese, Brazilian;
8–17 years) to show that peaks in performance align to age
at peak height velocity (APHV) (e.g. explosive muscular
strength peaks prior to APHV whereas static muscular
strength peaks after APHV). These are important observations
and need to be built upon and translated to teachers and
coaches so they can better understand the impact of timing
of biological maturity/peak statural growth on performance.
Lastly, Santos et al. 2020 examined the association between
biological maturity, growth, fitness, and gross motor coordin-
ation in over 7000 children and adolescents residing in
Amazon and Peru. Younger age, being female, lower height
for age (i.e. stunting), lower overall physical fitness, and over-
weight status was related to lower gross motor coordination.
Timing of biological maturity was, however, unrelated. Lastly,
a number of school environment variables, such as play-
ground facilities and frequency of physical education, were
significant predictors of gross motor coordination. These
findings should be used to inform intervention and policies
within these specific populations.
In a timely contribution, Moore et al. 2020 provide a
much-needed systematic review and narrative synthesis of
research exploring the relationship between timing of bio-
logical maturation and physical activity (including active
transport), sport, and sedentary behaviour. Adhering to
PRISMA guidelines, the authors concluded there was modest
evidence of early maturity as a potential risk factor for disen-
gagement from physical activity and increase in sedentary
behaviours in both boys and girls. The review also highlights
the wide heterogeneity in measures of both physical activity
and biological maturity suggesting a need for measurement
consistency and/or data harmonisation across studies.
A study by Cumming et al. 2020 used a biocultural
approach to interrogate a large (n ¼ 1062) dataset of multi-
ethnic girls (11–14 years) living in the Midlands of the UK.
Results showed that early maturity (assessed via predicted
APHV) in adolescent girls was associated with less accelerom-
eter assessed moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and this
association was partly explained (mediated by) lower percep-
tions of body attractiveness and physical self-worth. These
findings suggest that perceptions of pubertal change may be
as, if not more, important than change itself and should be
considered within interventions to enhance physical activity.
In a unique paper using data from the Avon Longitudinal
Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and UK Biobank,
Elhakeem and colleagues (Elhakeem et al. 2020) consider the
impact of pubertal timing upon physical activity during ado-
lescence and in middle-aged and older-aged adults
(40–70 years). Adjusting for age, education, and lifestyle fac-
tors, later pubertal onset (i.e. late maturity) was associated
with greater accelerometer assessed total physical activity in
girls at 14, but not 16 years of age. Pubertal timing was unre-
lated to both total and moderate-to-vigorous physical activ-
ity in boys at both 14 and 16 years of age. Pubertal timing
had no significant association with physical activity in mid-
older age suggesting that other factors may be more import-
ant to consider at these stages of life.
An ongoing challenge in practice and in applied research
is the assessment of biological maturity. Two studies in the
supplement, one by Parr et al. 2020 and the other by
Teunissen et al. 2020, investigate the accuracy of non-intru-
sive prediction equations based on anthropometric measure-
ments. Parr and colleagues compared the maturity offset
method (Mirwald et al. 2002) to predict age at APHV and the
three protocols to predict the percentage of mature adult
height (Khamis and Roche 1994) with observed APHV (criter-
ion) in 23, 13-year-old male football (soccer) academy play-
ers. Results showed that the prediction methods accurately
assigned 65%–94% of players, with the predicted percentage
of adult stature window method being the most accurate.
Teunissen et al. compared three methods to predict APHV,
the aforementioned maturity offset method (Mirwald et al.
2002), in addition to the methods by Fransen et al. (2018)
and Moore et al. (2015) among 32 elite male youth football
(soccer) players from the Netherlands. Results showed that
the prediction methods did differ from attained APHV, and
thus the authors stressed caution when using these meth-
ods. While these analyses need to be replicated in larger
samples which include females and a wider age range, both
contributions highlight the utility but also the challenges in
accurately predicting maturity within a practical and applied
(non-clinical) setting.
As an entity, this special issue highlights that variation in
biological maturity likely plays a role in adolescent disen-
gagement from physical activity and certainly impacts selec-
tion and sporting performance among adolescent athletes.
However, the measurement of biological maturity in the field
settings remains a challenge and the lack of standard meas-
ures and/or harmonisation of physical activity and biological
maturity data hinders comparison across studies/populations.
We hope this special issue will stimulate a dialogue in the
academic field but also in practice (e.g. elite youth sport set-
ting) about the need to truly understand, alongside psycho-
social and behavioural factors, the human biological

influences on physical activity and sports performance/
opportunities during the important and developmentally
unique period of adolescence.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
ORCID
Lauren B. Sherar http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9942-5433
Sean P. Cumming http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1705-9642
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