Age, cigarette smoking, and tests of physical fitness

Abstract

HYPOTHESIZED THAT SMOKING WOULD DECREASE SS' PERFORMANCE ON PHYSICAL FITNESS TESTS CALLING FOR STRENUOUS ACTIVITY, BUT NOT FOR TESTS CALLING FOR MILD ACTIVITY. 88 SS WERE GIVEN 5 PHYSICAL FITNESS TESTS AS PART OF THEIR WORK REQUIREMENT, AND THEN ASKED TO REPORT THE NUMBER OF PACKAGES OF CIGARETTES SMOKED PER DAY. A MULTIPLE LINEAR REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS, USING AGE AS A COVARIATE AND AMOUNT OF SMOKING AS THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE, SUPPORTED THE HYPOTHESIS. THE SMOKING CONDITIONS RESULTED IN SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES FOR THE MOST STRENUOUS TEST AND THE 2 MODERATELY STRENUOUS TESTS WITH PERFORMANCE SCORES DECREASING AS REPORTED SMOKING SCORES INCREASED. THE LEAST PHYSICALLY DEMANDING TESTS SHOWED NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SMOKING CONDITIONS. AGE WAS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN ACCOUNTING FOR SS' PERFORMANCE ON ALL OF THE TESTS. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)